LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 







UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 





fvJn^^Ty 



THE 



FIGHT WITH ROME 



BY 



JUSTIN Df FULTON, D.D. 



Author of " Why Priests Should Wed f ^^ Roman Catholic 

Element in American History;'" " Washington iii the JLap 

of Roffie ;'' '''•The Way Ozit ; or the Escape oj a 

Nun;'''' ''''Rome in Ainerica;'" ^'Shoxv Tour 

Colors f " Woman in the Toils 

of Rome^" etc. 




MARLBORO, MASS. 

Published by PRATT BROTHERS. 



Thb Library 
op cw76rbss 

WASmNGTOH 



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Copyright, li 
By JUSTIN D. FULTON. 



THIS BOOK WAS 

ELECTEOTYPED, PRINTED AND BOUND BY 

PBATT BROTHERS, 

MARLBORO. 



TO 



MEN AND WOMEN READY TO DARE 



GOD'S TRUTH, 

AND TO DO RIGHTEOUSNESS, 

THAT CHRIST MAY 

BE GLORIFIED, 

AND THAT COWARDS, WHETHER PROTEST ANIS 

OR ROMANISTS, MAY BE DELIVERED 

FROM THE THRALLDOM 

OF A CRUSHING 

DESPOTISM, 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction i 

Imperiled Romanists ; or are Romanists worth Saving . . 5 

How Romanists Deceive Romanists i<^ 

Purgatory the Masterpiece of Presumption 33 

High and Low Mass, a Roaring Farce 49 

How Romanists Deceive Romanists by the Aid of a Cardinal 65 

Shall New England Break the Fetter ? ....••• 83, 

Italy as It Was and America as It May Be 97 

Girolamo Savonarola, or How Romanism Hates Reform . 113. 

Edward McGlynn, D. D., the Unfrocked and What? . . 129 

The Cathedral Door Shut 143, 

Leo XIII in American Politics 153, 

John Wycliffe honored as a Truth Teller 161 

The Outcome of Our American Life 181 

The Fight in Biddeford 199 

Rev. Charles Chiniquy 205 

The Nun of Kenmare vs. the Despotism of the Church of 

Rome 207 

Martin Luther in Harness 233 

A Romish Fetter worn by New York 247 

The One Mediator 263 

The Dawn of a New Era for Romanists 273 

Is Romanism Christianity ; Let Canada, Cuba and Brazil 

answer 287 

Imperiled Homes 305 

Bismarck; His Doings and Undoings 319 

Pauline Propaganda ; Its Purpose and Plan 351 

Romanism and the Negro 367 

Romanists not Fit Educators of American Youth .... 385 
The American Reformation, Weekly "American", Reform 

Books, Etc. 400 

V 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Justin D. Fulton, D. D. Frontispiece 

Fac-Simile of Printed Appeal for Mass . . Page 6i 

Fac-Simile of Printed Envelope for Mass . . 62 

Cardinal James Gibbons 64 

Stillman B. Pratt 96 

GiROLAMO Savonarola 112 

Edward McGlynn, D. D 142 

Pope Leo XIII 152 

John Wycliffe 160 

William Hogan ,. . . 180 

Hon. J. R. Libby 198 

Rev. Charles Chiniquy 204 

Nun of Kenmare 206 

Bismarck . .' . 318 

Martin Luther 232 



PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. 



Justin D. Fulton, D. D., is the son of Rev. John J. Fulton, 
and was born atEarlville, N. Y., March i, 1828. The father was 
of North-of-Ireland stock and the mother of Pilgrim descent. Justin 
removed with his parents to Michigan in 1836, and at the age of 
eleven united with the Baptist church. 

In 1847, ^^ entered the University of Michigan. He was gradu- 
ated from the University of Rochester in 1851, and entered the 
Theological seminaiy. In December, 1853, he became editor of the 
Bible Union paper, in St. Louis, which immediately sprang into a 
large circulation. 

In 1854, ^^ organized a church in Biddle Market hall, St. Louis, 
with twenty-four members. In 1855, this church had grown so 
large that it required two pastors. 

He stood for freedom in a slave city and was driven out. Was 
settled in Toledo and Sandusky, O. Thence to Albany, N. Y., 
and in 1863 to Tremont Temple, Boston. In 1873 he built a large 
People's church, at Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1887, he gave up all to 
devote himself wholly to the new Reformation. He has the faith 
and courage of Elijah. He is the leader of the Pauline Propa- 
ganda. 

Dr. Fulton has exerted a mighty power through the press, 
both in newspapers and books. He realizes, as few do, the grand 
sweep of this modern influence. He is a constant contributor to 
the newspapers. 

Of his books, "Why Priests Should Wed" and "Rome in Amer- 
ica" have had immense circulation. 

This new book, "The Fight with Rome," was born while Dr. 
Fulton was under the fiercest fire of criticism from angry Romanists 
and cowardly Protestants. 

An examination of the table of contents will show that every 
chapter was written to meet the overwhelming emergencies today. 



Vlll PUBLISHERS NOTICE. 

These thoughts, fearlessly expressed, are the ripe fruitage of a ma- 
ture mind, that has made this greatest of all national and religious 
problems a life study. Not a chapter here that has not been re- 
written many times, and bathed in tears and consecrated by many 
prayers, before it was given to the public. 

Dr. Fulton delights to tell the truth. He is the most fearless 
man we have ever known. At the same time, he is the most tender 
and loving of Christian leaders. Love begets love. No person of 
our acquaintance has ever shown such love for God and man as the 
author of this book. May the Lord bless it abundantly, now and 
evermore, is the sincere prayer of 

The Publishers. 



INTRODUCTION. 



"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ;" the fear of 
Rome is the beginning of folly. The most inexplicable fadt con- 
ne(5led with our American life is the indescribable fear which per- 
meates the community concerning Romanism. It infedls the air. It 
pervades society. It creeps into churches and shuts the doors against 
the uncovering of the errors of Romanism and delivering the bond- 
men from the chains of its galling despotism. It holds the ruler or 
millions in its thrall, and awes the humblest citizen. It lays its 
embargo on free thought. It dominates the press. It makes 
many of our noble ministers dumb in the pulpit. It excludes from 
the platforms of political parties all utterances that would warn the 
people of their peril or outline the path of safety, and fills the minds 
of the million with apprehension and alarm. East of the Missis- 
sippi, there are here and there newspapers not afraid of Rome, but 
west of it there is hardly one that dares publish a report prejudicial 
to Rome. 

The causes of this fear are apparent, and deserve to be enu- 
merated and explained. 

1. Men fear Romanism because, it being the incarnation or 
error, its votaries are without a conscience and without honor. 
Kindness w^ins no recognition. Relationship proves no defense 
against the devilish hate. 

2. Romanists are ruled by a power utterly indifferent to public 
opinion. 

Rome tramples on decency and virtue. Her priests can drink 
to drunkenness, in conversation they can be foul-mouthed, in pri- 
vate they can be abusers of themselves, they can outrage virtue 
and bring scandal on homes, separate husbands from wives, and use 
language with young and inexperienced girls which would not be 
tolerated in the professedly good and which could only character- 
ize the infamously abandoned and the utterly vile ; and yet society 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

tolerates all this, and when the priests are berated and denounced 
for it they simply laugh at the indignation of the community, and 
push on as if they were masters of the situation. They pass from 
the brothel to the altar and celebrate the mass, and from a state of 
utter inebriety to perform the most solemn sacraments ; and all this is 
borne with because they are Romanists. Have the people for- 
gotten that the standard of morality in every community finds its 
rule of measurement in what it tolerates ? In this fight with Rome, 
the gi-eatest possible victory will be achieved when the American 
people shall demand that the priest who ministers to a Romish 
parish shall in conduct be as clean as the minister who occupies a 
pulpit in the evangelical world. It is not an ans^ver to say that 
there are bad ministers as there are bad priests. True, but where 
is there a bad minister upheld by a church or a denomination ? He 
cannot be pointed out ; and yet unnumbered priests bring disgrace 
upon the community, and are sustained by the church and kept in 
their places by the powers abL,ve them. To all this priests assent, 
and jeer at those who demand that in life and practice they conform 
to the teachings of the New Testament. It is yet to be ascertained 
Avhether auricular confession, the sea of infamy and pollution in 
Avhich priests swim and revel, shall not be broken up by legislation, 
and whether the children now taken out of the public school and 
shut up in the parochial school shall not be compelled by law to 
attend the public school, that the state may live even if RomanisiTi 
shall die. 

3. Romanists area unit in a6lion, no matter about conviction or 
individual choice. 

Seven millions of people are compelled to vote as the cardinal, 
archbishops, bishops and priests may command. Parents are com- 
pelled to take their children out of the public school or have the sac- 
raments withheld. Shall this be tolerated, or shall a law be passed 
and be enforced making it a criminal ofiense for any one to tamper 
with the right of the people to have their children educated in the 
schools provided for them by the state ? These questions enter into 
the fight with Rome. Roman Catholics must see that they cannot 
afford to have their children fall behind in the race, as they surely 
will if educated in a way that shall make them inferior in ability to 
■others. In time there must be a revolt, and then the people must 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

stand by them. Let Protestant children befriend Roman Catholic 
children, shut out from the enjoyments and advantages afforded to 
them. Let Protestant men and women talk freely with Roman 
Catholics in regard to the peril that threatens their youth. Let the 
pulpit speak, and the press illustrate the tendency and trend, and 
all will be well. Rome cannot successfully resist the concentrated 
force of public opinion, but must yield or depart. The time is 
coming when the people will demand that the clerical orders of the 
Roman Catholic church march with Protestants, beneath the stars 
and stripes, in support of American institutions, or be treated as 
traitors and as enemies. 

As Abraham Lincoln said : "Sooner or later, the light of com- 
mon sense will make it clear to every one that no liberty of con- 
science can be granted to men who are sworn to obey a pope who 
pretends to have the right to put to death those who differ from 
him in religion." "Sooner or later, the people will be forced to put 
a restridlion to that clause of unlimited toleration toward a papist 
* * I am for liberty of conscience in its truest, noblest, broadest 
and highest sense. But I cannot give liberty of conscience to the 
pope and his followers, the papists, so long as they tell me, through 
their councils, theologians and canon laws, that their conscience 
orders them to burn my wife and strangle my children and cut my 
throat when they find an opportunity." (Washington in the Lap 
of Rome, p. 127.) Nor can the American people afford to have 
the youth of the Roman Cathclic church educated to believe that 
either the priest or the church can give them a warrant to trample 
on the ordinances of the land, or set at defiance the commandments 
written by God's finger on the tables of stone amid the thunderings 
and lightnings of quaking Sinai. The American people must care for 
God's cause, uphold his honor and obey the teachings of his word, 
and then may be assured that they will share his protection and care. 

A free and fearless pulpit is the hope of the nation. John Knox 
made Scotland the terror of Rome. Germany was emancipated by 
the preaching of Luther. Switzerland, through Zwingli's influ- 
ence, became the fortress of liberty, against which the waves ot 
despotism beat in vain. England is indebted to John Wycliffe, who 
opened the way for Tyndale, for Cromwell, and for William, prince 
of Orange, who helped emancipate a people that has thrown off the 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

fetters of Rome ; that, under the banner of Judah's Lion, stands as the 
defender of an open Bible ; and, with the people of Germany and of 
the United States, makes freedom to worship God a possibility in 
all the world. 

The outcome is viftory. Rome is broken when everybody dares 
tell the truth and ^vill do it. Romanism is like a thistle. Grasp it 
boldly and its sting is slain ; toy with it and it becomes the nettle of 
danger. Is Rome master? Today, judged by the cowardice of men 
in church and state, the looker-on would be compelled to say It is. 
Tomorrow the answer will be No, because fifty millions are waking 
up. Eyes are opened. Ears are unstopped. The call to adtion is 
heard. The shackles of fear are being broken. Thought is free, 
expression is in order and liberty for all is at the door ; for the fight 
with Rome is the fight for truth, for education and for home, 
and the people enjoying liberty and creeping up out of the bondage 
of a blinding superstition into the noonday radiance of an accom- 
plished liberty will bear a hand in the conflict and share in the 
triumph of right over w^rong, of Christianity over Romanism. 



IMPERILLED ROMANISTS; or ARE ROMAN- 
ISTS WORTH SAVING? 



"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord." Isaiah 
i:i8. 

The question "Are Romanists worth saving?" is asked in the 
imperial city of New York, the gateway of the v^estern conti- 
nent and the largest city in the world ruled by Roman Catholics. 
Here Protestants, for reasons which I need not give, have betrayed 
the man who, of all others and above all others, stood by the stars 
and stripes, declaring that it should not be lowered to give way 
to the flag of the Green Isle or any other, and that so long as he re- 
tained the head of the government the flag of the union should 
hold the place of honor. 

We honor Gen. Dix for what made him immortal. When the 
stars of hope were fading out of our sky, when treason was in the 
air and our beautiful banner was being trampled in the mire of se- 
cession, he telegraphed, perhaps inspired by the brave and fearless 
Stanton: "If any one hauls down the American flag, shoot him 
on the spot." It is not better to lower it, and give some other flag 
its rightful place, than it was to haul it down ; so, no matter 
how betrayed and defeated, I begin my work by thanking God for 
Abram S. Hewitt, assuring him of our heart-love and of our prayers. 

"Come, let us reason together." Protestants and Roman Cath- 
olics have much in common. We have one God, the Father of 
lights, before whom in unison we bow. 

The Lord Jesus Christ, lifted on the cross, is the Saviour of all 
men. Let him have his place. Remember that he was careful 
at the marriage supper at Cana of Galilee to refuse to recognize 
the mediatorship of his mother, and said when she told him " They 
have no wine," "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" Thus 
he placed, at the beginning of his ministry, his heel of condemna- 
tion on the doctrine of Mariolatry. Let it stay there. Let us worship 

5 



O IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 

Jesus Christ, the expression of the Father's will, for whom all 
things were made, and by whom. 

We have in common the third person of the holy trinity, 
the Holy Spirit. Let us trust him and serve him and rest upon his 
office work ; let us reject baptismal regeneration and the value of 
sacraments, and believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God 
the Holy Ghost. 

We have the holy Bible, the word of God. Let us lift it to its 
rightful place, in the home, in the sanctuary, in the school house. 
Make it our unfurled banner ; let it be to us what the pillar of cloud 
and fire was to ancient Israel. Follow its lead, obey its commands<, 
and we shall reach Canaan together. 

Iinperilled Roinanists^ are they worth savmg? is my theme. 
Is it Romanists or Christians who are imperilled? Romanists, I 
answer. Doubtless very many would say Romanists need have no 
fear. In New York they have got the earth ; they hold all the 
offices, dictate the policy of political parties, make the pulpit 
dumb, fetter the press and ride the nation as a nightmare. This is 
only the beginning, and is the result of cowardice and not of neces- 
sity. Rome is a dominant power in politics, as in religion. Thou- 
sands, aye, even millions, are glad to serve Rome. The man who 
has a yard of green ribbon to sell or a day's labor to hire, in the 
house, the shop, or the field, seems to be afraid of saying anything 
or doing anything that shall not serve the *^'Lady of the Tiber." 
The prince of the power of the air, of whom Romanism is the in- 
carnation, is a fact, which fills so many with apprehension when- 
ever it is proposed to tell the truth about Romanism to Romanists. 
Let us thank God for the quickening pulse of liberty. Think ol 
the brave words spoken in pulpits concerning Romanism. God 
stands with those who stand with him. Germany's sun is coming 
out of the cloud because her emperor stood side by side and shoulder 
to shoulder with the king of Italy ; who, despite the mists of su- 
perstition, has climbed to the broad plateau seen by Mazzini and 
contended for by Cavour, and walks in the brightness of advanced 
progress. In America the cry is for a man who can take up the 
work of Abraham Lincoln, and go where he did not dare go, and 
say about Romanism what he did not think it wise to say, until the 
grave of Romanism shall be dug and a path to liberty be opened to 
the millions coming out of bondage. The wealth hanging on dead 



IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 7 

images of the Virgin Mary in the churches of Spain would pay the 
national debt, and distributed among the people would give com- 
fort and abundance to thousands where now is squalor and want. 
It is much the same in New York. It is enough to break one's 
heart to hear the story of the poor Romanist — wife in want, children 
without bread, the priest deaf to all appeal. No wonder those men 
are loved who, at the altars of Rome, illustrate the teachings of the 
gospel. 

Carry this truth into the poorest tenement districts of New York. 
Let Christ be formed in men the hope of glory ; rum shops would 
be converted into groceries or bakeries, and squalid tenements into 
comfortable homes. Ring out the truth as never before. Christ 
died to save, to save from poverty to thrift, from a life which de- 
grades and destroys to a life that ennobles and blesses. 

It is in order to say that Romanists are imperilled in New York 
as they are not in Italy or in Mexico. To either country it is fash- 
ionable to send preachers, as if Romanists needed the gospel. New 
York could even tolerate Wm. C. Van Meter, so long as he 
worked for Italy. Men of wealth give thousands of dollars 
to send the gospel to foreign parts, whose doors are closed to those 
\vho propose to make an aggressive march in the city where Roman- 
ism has more brains in its service, more wealth at its disposal and 
more power under its control than anywhere else in the world. Let 
it be so no longer. Let us bless God for men who are feeling that 
the time has come to take hold of this question, and who are ready 
to be counted in as supporters of the work of preaching the gospel 
to New York's imperilled Romanists, to whom the word is seldom 
proclaimed, and perhaps, up to now, has never been made known. 
Is it not true, in the United States, that Romanists going to the 
judgment bar of God can say " No man cares for my soul" ? Who 
preaches to them? They dare not enter our churches. They will 
not suffer Christian ministers to enter their places of assembling. 
There is no opportunity to say to them, " Come, let us reason to- 
gether." Why should Archbishop Corrigan be unwilling to come 
by my side on this platform and speak to this people ? Why should 
he not be ready to permit a minister in good standing to stand in 
his pulpit and proclaim the truth to the men and women that throng 
the cathedral and gaze upon the dumb show of the mass. ^ It is 
pitiable that even in this world, as it shall be in the next, a great 



8 IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 

gulf divides true Christians from bigoted Romanists. Fenelon, In 
the days of Louis XIV, was not more persecuted as a Romanist, 
than will be Father Malone, Brooklyn's favorite priest, unless he 
surrenders his manhood and gives up his love for McGlynn at the 
didlation of an archbishop who is ruling the Roman Catholics of 
New York with a merciless despotism that would not be tolerated 
in Rome. 

I. Romanists are ifnperilled because the gospel of Jesus 
Christ is withheld from theTn. Xhey dp not have it in their 
churches. They dare not enter ours. The Evangelical Alliance 
of Rochester, N. Y., and perhaps of other cities — owing to the in- 
fluence of Bishop McQuade, the open foe of our public school sys- 
tem — orders that when Christian tract distributers find a Roman 
Catholic home, they pass it by. Imagine our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ saying to the apostles: "Go into all the world and 
preach the gospel ; but when you come to the house of a Jew or of 
a pagan, pass them ; they will not relish nor welcome your mes- 
sage." No one preaches to Romanists. Pulpits are barred against 
this message, because Roman Catholic churches are in close prox- 
imity, and the city Tract society forbids the prosecution of this 
work in one of the churches under its control, lest Romanists be 
disturbed, and orders its workers to give a wide berth to one called 
of God to proclaim the truth to those "that are in Rome also.'* 
Unless this sentiment can be eradicated from the heart, nothing will 
be done for Romanists. A superintendent of a Sabbath school in 
New York city said that if this work for Romanists is to be prose- 
cuted, a new feeling of love must be born in the hearts of the 
workers. Now they not only do not seek to get Roman Catholic 
cl-ildren into the school, but they would not welcome them to their 
classes. Church after church refuses to engage in the work for 
Romanists, and Reformed Catholics, so-called, ai-e treated as though 
the charge of Dean Swift was true, that only the weeds come out 
from Rome. People on every hand are looking to the children of 
the light for truth, and yet they withhold it, and so imperil Roman- 
ists. 

Romanists are without peace in Rome. A girl was dying. No 
neighbor called on her who dared speak of Christ. At length a 
converted Romanist came. The fear of purgatorial fire had tor- 
mented her. The friend had been delivered by the truth. She 



IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 9 

tried to tell the truth to the sick girl. She was afraid to hear it, 
and cried to Mary and to St. Benedict. At length she told her of 
the joy she had found when she had taken the word, believed it 
and rested on it. At last the poor Romanist consented to receive 
the Bible, hid it beneath her pillow and read it as she could. The 
word saved her. She saw that Jesus Christ saves, and that when he 
said "It is finished," it satisfied God and made him the ransom of 
the soul. That brought peace. Such souls are all about us. Who 
goes to them ? To this work priests and people are alike opposed. 
No one knows to what persecutions and negledls the child of God 
is subje(5led. Think of a brother uninvited to attend his brother's 
funeral, as was the case of a man in Brooklyn, when his brother 
died in Boston. Think of another brother driving a brother from 
the embrace of a mother whom he visited in Ireland, because of the 
bigotry of Romanists. 

"Come, let us reason together." There is a more excellent way. 
Such fear as this keeps millions still. We were in Marshalltown, 
Iowa. A fine-looking man listened to the sermon telling of the 
needs of a Romanist. At the close of the sermon, that merchant 
came up and said: "I think you Christians in this town are very 
cowardly. I have walked with you, invited you into my office and 
into my home, and not one of you has ever spoken about my soul." 
Rome is well served by Christians who hide their light under a 
bushel and refuse to open the way to Christ. In the introduction 
to "Rome in America," the question is argued, " Can we hope for 
the conversion of Romanists?" That paper w^as read to twenty- 
four evangelical ministers, only two of whom had ever made the 
attempt to win a Romanist to Christ ; and yet whoever seeks their 
conversion finds them accessible. 

This brings us again to the question, "Are Romanists worth sav- 
ing?" If actions speak louder than words, what say you. Chris- 
tian ? Have you ever a6ted as if they were lost unless the gospel 
be proclaimed to them? 

2. Ro77ianists are imperilled because of the vjidely prevail- 
ing impression that Romanism, is better tha7i no religion^ and 
that in the church of Rome some of the noblest^ purest and niost 
saintly characters have lived and died. Was not Madame 
Guyon a Christian ? ask very many. She was, and was persecuted 
by Romanists from the day of her conversion until her death. 



lO IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 

Rome had no welcome or love for Madame Guyon. She was excluded 
from towns, robbed of her estates and immured in prisons because 
she loved and confessed Christ. Salvation, as taught by the word 
of God, is the beginning. In Rome, it is the end. Love is the 
fountainof the Christian's life; fear rules the Romanist, and yet 
some say Romanism is good enough for the poor of Europe and 
the poor of America. If good enough for the poor, it is good 
enough for anybody. I stand here to declare that Christ died for 
the poorest as well as for the richest, and that the gospel of Jesus 
Christ opens the wav from the hovel of the humblest to the highest 
place. It takes the flute plaver in the streets of Eisleben, brings 
him into the fellowship of Christ and makes Hans Luther's son the 
pioneer of a reformation that changed the face of Europe. It makes 
John Bunyan, the tinker, the teacher of the world, because he re- 
counts the glory of a Pilgrim's Progress. 

J. Ro7nanists are ijnperilled by RoTnanism^ which is the tap- 
root of despotism. Think of nuns shut up in hopeless captivity in 
New York. Think of priests sent to monasteries and compelled 
to live on bread and water, for manifesting sympathy for a friend 
and brother \vho has been for more than a score of years the heart 
and soul of great philanthropic movements. Roman Catholics are 
wearing fetters, which ought to be broken and which must be gall- 
ing. Let the sceptre of an archbishop be cast into the sea, and let 
Romanists in New York become free. They are ruled by a pope 
they never saw or chose. This is not American or right. 
Truly has it been said : "If God intended that the pope should do 
all the thinking of the world, he would have given him more 
brains. If God intended that the pope should do all the seeing of 
the world, he would have given him other than human eyes." We 
accord to Roman Catholics the same privileges we enjoy, and in- 
sist that they shall be content with these or emigrate. It is because 
Romanists fight freedom of speech, of the press and of worship that 
we call a halt. Rome, in a bull of 1370, repeated in 1430 and re- 
affirmed in 1566,1627 and 1869, excommunicates all classes outside 
of the Romish church, known as heretic, and forbids freedom of 
action on the part of individuals, except insomuch as the church 
permits through its direct authority. This brings the Roman 
Catholic church into direct antagonism, not only to free thought, 
but to brotherhood, to neighborly kindness and to the rights and 



IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. II 

privileges of citizenship, and makes it certain that a people who 
indulge in such proclivities will receive injury. 

4. Ro7nanists are imperilled by the feeling of hostility being 
engendered toward them. Seven millions cannot contend against 
fifty millions, whenever the latter once resolve to assert and main- 
tain their rights. 

The war from Rome has begun. The Watchman, the Roman 
Catholic organ of St. Louis, declares that within fifty years Prot- 
estantism and Romanism are to try titles. When that time comes, 
Romanism will go to the wall. Romanism may place itself like 
the maddened bull in front of the engine. The bull must die or 
fly. The train will move on. The great republic is God's incar- 
nated purpose of libert}^ It must live, because in its life are 
the lives and hopes of millions. Victories for truth are in the air. 
History is being uncovered. Books may be excluded from the 
public schools, but that only bulletins them for the world, and turns 
the eyes of millions to historic facfts, which are coming into a new 
life. The United States has a place in prophecy. Moses planted 
the seed ; Daniel saw it and foretold its growth and its destiny. It 
was to fill the whole earth. Romanism is in utter antagonism to 
the purposes of Almighty God, and its doom is fixed. In Rome, 
Romanism is dying and the pope talks of emigration. In Ameri- 
ca, Romanism is thriving, because the problem of immigration re- 
mains unsolved. Its turn will soon come. Then the ballot will 
be taken from the hands of all who owe allegiance to a foreign po- 
tentate and are disloyal to the flag that is our glory and praise. 

American manhood is to be the ideal of our American life. It 
is the great ideal that determines the character of a nation. 
Romanists have had their opportunity. They have mis-improved 
and wasted it. Toleration of error is treason to truth. Justice, 
honesty and fidelity are next in order. Romanism is to be weighed 
as a party, not as a religion. It demands public supremacy and a 
part of the public tax, : having stepped into the public arena, 
it will be put under crucial tests ; then, having come to be thor- 
oughly known and understood, will be hated as a power that coines 
forward in organic form, and, w4th defiant and deadly purpose, has 
placed itself like a foul monster on the top of the intelligence and 
conscience of the people, to become the arbiter of parties and rule 
as the balance of power. This will not be borne. The cry sounds 



12 IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. / 

out: "Up, for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered 
Romanism into thy hand." 

In the Hght of poHtical economy, Christians are urged to seek the 
salvation of Romanists. Romanism fills New York and all our 
large cities with squalor, ignorance, poverty and wretchedness. 
The gospel is the soul of every anti-poverty movement. Romanists 
loosened from Rome make anarchists, infidels, atheists. Italy is 
full of them. The gospel of Jesus Christ is their only hope. Re- 
ligion fills the heart with love, makes neighborly kindness a princi- 
ple of life, kills boycotting, persecution and selfishness, which Ro- 
manism fosters. Naturally, it is not in the heart to love a people 
led by Jesuitical leaders and bent upon undermining liberty. They 
are deceptive rather than outspoken. They are served by false- 
hood instead of truth. To redeem them saves them and hurts 
Rome. The work for Romanists has been full of encouraging sur- 
prises. 

No sooner are Christians ready for the work than they find that 
the work is ready for them. Romanists are accessible. Millions of 
them have grown weary of the deception of Rome. Purgatory, the 
masterpiece of presumption, is a scare and a sham. Tell it to them, 
and they turn to the hope in Christ with delight. High and low 
mass is a roaring farce ; make it plain, and they keep their money and 
bankrupt Rome. They see that the standard of morality in the 
Roman Catholic church is low. The truth contained in "Why 
Priests Should Wed," a book written to save women and girls, fitted 
into the life-needs of Romanists, and they welcome it w^ith delight. 
It is a great privilege and a high honor to permit the voice of a dead 
nun and of priests into whose souls the iron of Romish hate entered 
to find a resurrection. Strange and mysterious are the providences 
which gave to this truth an advertisement that thousands of dollars 
could not have purchased, which made the author acquainted with 
the terrible condition of "Washington lying in the lap of Rome," 
and gave birth to a volume which must work a revolution so soon 
as its truths are scattered and find a lodgment in the heart and con- 
science of the nation. The day is big with hope and promise. The 
uprising in New England is but a prelude to the waking up of the 
nation. When Rome laid its hand upon and sought the destrudtion 
of America's public school system, she touched the apple of the 
people's eye and sent a shock through the organic frame of a na- 



IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. I3 

tion's life. It is determined that the state shall, in self-defense, ed- 
ucate the youth of the land, so as to grow patriots instead of 
traitors. To do this the word of God must not be banished, and 
they who hate it and would gladly burn it shall be thrust out of 
the place of teachers and be made to earn their living elsewhere. 
The time will come again when godly school teachers will be as 
great a necessity, in the estimation of the thinking republic, as the 
godly minister. Consider these fa6ts and a6l: on them. 

To do this work, devotion to Christ is a necessity. Get and 
hold the conception of a lost soul, deluded with the thought of be- 
ing delivered from purgatory. Christ is reje6led. In eternity, the 
mists are cleared away ; there the words have their meaning : "Who- 
soever believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; whosoever believeth 
not shall be damned." The soul is damned. No cry from the 
lost can help. No prayers or masses here will avail. Multiply 
the one soul by millions. Think of the deceived in hell, then think 
of the deceived out of hell and go after them in the name of Christ 
and hold up to them the truth. The truth gives freedom. The 
truth saves. Tell the truth. Scatter the truth. Begin with those 
next to you, and work on and work out. 

5. To work for Romanists requires courage^ the courage which 
welcomes a convi6lion and then a6ls in accordance with the inspir- 
ation born of it. How essential is this courage, let the house-wife 
answer, who has not dared talk with her servant in regard to the 
needs of her soul. Let the employer answer, who has not had the 
fidelity to Christ and truth which would make him place the truth 
before his employees. 

Let the business man answer who has a cashier in a bank or a 
clerk in a store that is a Roman Catholic, and so is afraid to have 
the truth proclaimed by his pastor or in his church, as is often 
seen. The cowardice of the Christian world passes belief. It makes 
men silent in the presence of Roman Catholics to an extent that is 
surprising. It fills them with an indefinable dread that is inex- 
plainable. Roman Catholics feel it and sufter as a consequence. 
Said a merchant : "Your Protestant ministers a6l very strange. I 
have tried to talk with them about my soul's welfare, and they seem 
unwilling to explain to me the vs^ay of life." Fear seals their lips. 
Does ic strangle their life? Five ministers sat in a pulpit in Iowa. 
At the close of a sermon in which the possibility of reaching and 



14 IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 

helping Roman Catholics was dwelt upon, up strode an elegantly- 
dressed man who proved to be the first merchant of the town. He 
said: ^^I see before me jive cowards'' ''Why, how is that?" 
"Because I have tried in vain to have you talk with me about 
Christ." "But are you not a Roman Catholic?" "I was, but for 
years I have tired of Romanism and have desired to know of Christ." 
The ministers were broken down with sorrow. The man is now in 
the fold. 

Said a great ranch owner, in the east, "Give me some of those 
books." He took and paid for a half dozen copies of "Rome in 
America," containing the sermon, "Is Romanism good enough for 
Romanists ? " and carried them to his office. His partner, a Roman 
Catholic, came in and said, "What are these?" A. book was pre- 
sented to him, with the confession that he had neglected to speak to 
him reg-ardino^ the deathless interests of his immortal soul. The 
partner, calling him by name, said: "In this regard you have not 
been true. I have seen the folly of Romanism, but no one has 
spoken to me of Christ. I will gladly read the book." The good 
seed has brought forth fruit. K. princely merchant hired a coach- 
man. Riding with him, he talked freely about this work for Ro- 
manists. That night the coachman came and asked for his money, 
saying: " I do not want to work for any one that talks as you do 
against my church." 

" Sit down, James. Did I hire you, or did you hire me?" 
"You hired me, sir, but I don't like your views." 
" That may be," replied the merchant. Then, pulling out a Bible 
in which the coachman read his name, he said, " I was about going 
to your room to have a talk w^ith you. In my opinion, your soul is 
in peril. You need the word of God. Let us pray together before 
3'ou go, and then take the Bible as a token of my regard." They 
bowed in prayer. The merchant laid bare the needs of his 
brother's soul and commended him to God. Rising up, he began 
to count out the money, when the coachman said : "You need not 
do it. What you have done looks like Christianity. I want some. 
I will keep my place." The man is there nov^, a member of the 
same church with the employer. How much better this way of 
dealing than leaving an irreligious coachman to instruct boys in 
profanity, and, helped by priests and nuns, to seduce the daughter 
and make her his w^ife, as has been done again and again. 



IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 1 5 

To accomplish this work, we need the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, that shall fill our souls with unsptakable love for those who 
are lost and undone. They do not understand a movement like 
this. They cannot associate it with anything but bac. When 
speaking on "Nunneries Prisons or Worse," in Chicago, an cboit 
was made to break up the meeting. Finally, I turned and said : 
"Roman Catholics, why am I here?" "For money," said they. 
"No, not for that. No pay is poorer than this you ofier me. I 
have no sister in a nunnery, no daughter in danger of enduring 
what I have described in 'Why Priests Should Wed;' but you 
have, and quite likely there may be some of your friends lifting up 
hands to God in prayer and crying for release and asking God that 
some outside of that place of torment may come to their help ; and if 
you have a particle of the milk of human kindness in your hearts, 
you will feel like applauding my unselfish efibrt, rather than de- 
nouncing it." As a result, they broke into kindly cheers, and ap- 
plauded me to the end of the ledlure. 

For these Christ died. Pi6ture that love. Drink from the foun- 
tain. Go forth surcharged with the Spirit. Then you will befriend 
those who come out from Rome, and take them to your hearts and 
homes. Until Christians come to love the souls of Romanists, be- 
cause Christ died for them and because of what they can become 
when redeemed, little will be attempted. 

Jerry McAuley was a Romanist. Christ in him and for him and 
with him made him the benefactor of the city where he became a 
proficient in the school of crime. 

The story of Bishop Latimer's conversion well illustrates one 
good way to work with and for Romanists. In Cambridge, Eng- 
land, lived a Christian by the name of Bilney. The Scripture was 
his canon law, the Holy Spirit of Christ his new master. Into the 
town came Hugh Latimer. Born in Leicester in 1491, educated 
for the church, he became the wild and rabid opponent of Protest- 
antism. At the occasion of receiving the degree of bachelor of di- 
vinity, he had to deliver a Latin discourse in the presence of the 
university. He chose for his subject, "Philip Melancthon and his 
do6lrines." He had insulted Staftbrd. He had poured contempt 
on Scripture readers and the students of the word of God. He 
now made merry over the teachings of Melancthon, and declared 
that England, nay Cambridge, would furnish a champion for the 



t6 imperilled ROMANISTS. 

church who would confront the Wittenberg do6lors a; id save the 
vessel of our Lord. But very different was to be the result. There 
was among the hearers one man almost hidden through his small 
stature ; it was Bilney. For some time he had been watching 
Latimer's movements, and his zeal interested him, though it was a 
zeal without knowledge. Bilney possessed a delicate tadl, a skilllul 
discernment of character, which enabled him to distinguish error 
and sele(?l: the fittest method of combatting it. Accordingly, a 
chronicler styles him a trier of Satan's subtleties, appointed by God 
to detect the bad money that the enemy was circulating throughout 
the church. Bilney easily detected Latimer's sophisms, but at the 
same time loved his person and conceived the design of w^inning 
him to the gospel. But how to manage it ? The prejudiced Latimer 
would not even listen to the evangelical Bilney. The latter re- 
fledled, prayed and at last planned a very candid and very strange 
plot, which led to one of the most astonishing conversions recorded 
in history. 

He went to the college where Latimer resided. *'For the love 
of God," he said to him, "be pleased to hear my confession." 
Latimer, believing that his sermon against Melancthon had con- 
verted him, yielded to his request, and the pious Bilney, kneeling 
before the so-called cross-bearer, related to him wath touching sim- 
plicity the anguish he had once felt in his soul ; the efforts he had 
made to remove it, their unprofitableness so long as he determined 
to follow the precepts of the church, and, lastly, the peace he had 
felt w^hen he believed that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sins of the world. He described to Latimer the 
spirit of adoption he had received, and the happiness he experienced 
in being able now to call God his Father. Latimer, who expedied 
to hear a confession, listened without mistrust. His heart was opened ; 
and the voice of the pious Bilney penetrated it without hindrance. 
From time to time the confessor would have chased away the new 
thoughts which came crowding into his bosom, but the penitent 
continued. His language, at once so simple and so lively, entered 
like a two-edged sword. Bilney had a helper in the Holy Ghost. 
God spoke in Latimer's soul. He learned from God to know 
God ; he received a new heart. At length grace prevailed ; the 
penitent rose up, but Latimer remained seated, absorbed in thought. 
The strong cross-bearer contended in vain against the words of the 



IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 1 7 

feeble Bilney. Like Saul on the way to Damascus, he was con- 
quered, and his conversion was instantaneous. He stammered out 
a few words ; Bilney drew near him with love, and God scattered 
the darkness which still obscured his mind. He saw Jesus Christ 
as the only Saviour given to man, he contemplated and adored 
him. *'I learned more by this confession," he said afterwards, 
'than by much reading ; I now tasted the word of God." Latimer 
viewed with horror the obstinate war he had waged against God ; 
he wept bitterly ; but Bilney consoled him. "Brother," said he, 
"though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." 
These two young men saw eye to eye. What did Bilney do that 
may not be attempted in any confessional by any redeemed Roman 
Catholic ? 

Latimer in his life and death illustrates the power of the religion 
of Christ. Latimer was changed. He was devout, earnest, true. 
Elevated to the position of a bishop in the days of Henry VIII, he 
remained true to God. It is related that vs^hen the bishop present- 
ed the tyrant king with a gift he sent a copy of the New Tes- 
tament with the leaf turned down and this sentence marked : "Whore- 
mongers and adulterers God will judge." When apprehended by 
order of Bloody Mary, he said to the officer : "My friend, you are 
a welcome messenger to me." One day, when suffering from the 
severe frost and denied the comfort of a fire in his prison, he pleas- 
antly remarked to the keeper of the tower that "if he was not tak- 
en better care of he should certainly escape out of his enemies' hands," 
meaning that he should perish with cold and hardship. 

Brought to the stake and appearing in a shroud prepared for the 
occasion, a remarkable change was observed in his appearance ;for, 
tvhereas he had hitherto seemed a withered, decrepit and even 
deformed old man, he now stood perfectly upright, a straight and 
comely person. When the fagots were lighted he turned and 

said to Bishop Ridley, burning with him ; '-'-Be of good comfort^ 
Mr. Ridley^ and play the fna7i. We shall this daylight such a 
candle., by God's grace., in England., as I trust shall 7tever be 
put ozct.'^ The flames rose ; and Ridley, in a wonderfully loud 
voice, exclaimed, "Into thy hand, O Lord, I commend my spirit." 
Latimer, on the other side, as vehemently cried out, "O Father 
of heaven, receive my soul ! " and welcoming, as it were, the 
flame, he embraced it, bathed his hands in it, stroked his venera- 



1 8 IMPERILLED ROMANISTS. 

ble face with them, and soon died, seemingly with little pain, 
or none. Beneath the shadow of such sacrifices, let us thank God 
for the opportunities furnished us to proclaim the truth and count 
our mercies. Bilney loved. He died a martyr and counted his 
joy to suffer for Christ. Let us remember, finally : 

6. To win Romanists de7nands an overmastering- love for souls. 

Follow a lost soul to hell. Romanists understand this, and give 
all they have to get that loved personality out of purgatory. The 
Romanists are deceived. If saved, they must be saved here and 
now. To do this, we must track them to their haunts and preach 
Christ to them where they live. In convents, redeemed nuns have 
proclaimed the truth to the dying and saved them. This is a 
work in which all can engage. Workingmen in Biddeford, Me., 
and Charlestown, Mass., filled their pockets with New Testaments 
and loaned or gave them to their companions. Many v^ere saved. 

On New England's rock-bound coast thousands of sailors were 
imperilled by the storm which ploughed up the deep and piled 
along the shore many stout and sturdy ships. The Life Saving 
crew w^ere up and at it. They v/ould not be stopped by peril. 
They pushed out and brought in their men. Princely people stood 
in the storm by the shore and took the half famished sailors and 
wrapped them in blankets and carried them to their homes and 
warmed and fed them, to save their bodies. A mightier storm is 
raging. It has emptied the refuse of Europe upon our shores. For 
them Christ died. They are ignorant ; they inay be vicious ; they 
may be uncanny ; nevertheless, for them Christ stretched himself 
upon the cross, went through the agony of suffering and in the 
might of God and with the tones of victory exclaimed, "// is 
finished. '' No purgatory beyond. No masses for the dead re- 
quired here. Christ is all and in all. Who, when God inquires 
"Whom shall I send?" will reply, '''•Here am /, send me'"' to 
work for the saving of Romanists from death and hell to Christ 
and hope? 



HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMAN- 
ISTS. 



*For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Prov. 23 : 7. 

Romanists in their hearts beUeve in Romanism. They show it. 
They are to be honored for their courage and pitied because of their 
delusion. The question of indulgences has been thrust upon the 
attention of the American people. Romanists, as is their wont, are 
attempting to deceive. This deception reveals a state of affairs that 
calls for sober and calm reflection. No lie is of the truth. No liar 
hath a part in eternal life. "All liars shall have their part in the 
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second 
death." Romanists are no exception, and yet is it not true that in 
regard to religion or business, the v^^ord of a Romanist and the oath 
of a Romanist is at a discount, especially if the interests of the church 
demand, in his opinion, a misstatement.^ 

I. Romanists deceive Romanists because their religion is 
built on a lie. 

As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Thinking a lie in the heart 
makes a man a liar. Thinking in the heart determines character, 
and charaiSler determines condudl. Let us apply these self-evident 
truths to the circumstances that environ us. We are dealing with 
millions of people who we know think a lie and act a lie. 

Romanism is in itself a fraud. Its taproot is falsehood. The 
tree through all its branches is deception. Do we say this forget- 
ting how much it involves? It is said the bottom of old-fashioned 
honesty is falling out of business. It is an alarming statement. 
May not the result be traced to this cause ? If we tolerate decep- 
tion and lying, are we not guilty of the sin ? Think of its influence 
upon the youth. We are taking them out of the association of peo- 
ple who are taught to tell the truth and to scorn a lie, and shutting 
them up with men whose so-called theology teaches them that an 
untruth may be told without sin. If it may be told in one case, it 

19 



20 HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 

may in all. We are dealing with a just and holy God, who cannot 
look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. They that offend 
in one point offend in all. The one jot or tittle of the law is dear to 
God, and He will not tolerate its violation. Some one has said a lie 
adhered to is as good as a truth. Nothing could be more false as to 
results, nothing more true as to appearance. 

A lie can never be a truth. Take a wrong road, and the farther 
you go the more you are astray. Believing a lie brings damnation 
quite as much as does the rejection of the truth. This is not the 
current opinion. Thousands declare, No matter what you believe, 
so that you are honest about it. That does not prove true in me- 
chanics. The underwriters declare a ship unseaworthy and refuse 
to insure her. The captain believes in her, pulls out, gets out upon 
the ocean, a storm strikes her, and because of her weakness she goes 
down. Faith did no good. The leak in the ship, the worm-eaten 
bottom or the rotted rib did the business. Romanism is false from 
heart to cuticle, from centre to circumference. It is built on the 
declaration that Christ said to Peter, I will build on you my church, 
when he never said anything of the kind, but that I will build my 
church on the confession of my being the Son of God, which Peter 
made. The lie is adhered to. Men build on it, and reje6l Christ 
and are lost. That is not all. They do harm. They give time and 
strength to supporting a lie. 

Rome claims that Peter lived in Rome, when history sho^vs he 
never saw it or never dwelt a night there, and yet Romanists cling 
to it. Receiving this untruth paves the way to the acceptance of 
others. 

The story is told of a certain dog that believed a squirrel v^as in 
a certain hole. Every one knew the dog was deceived, and yet there 
he stayed, despite all persuasions and abuse. He believed that the 
squirrel vsras in the hole, or claimed to, and often when caught look- 
ing there, with a sheepish face, he would seem to say. Let me alone ; 
the delusion does me good. So they let him stay and watch the hole. 

Romanists are indulged in the same way. Few try to expose 
their errors. The many claim, It is an innocent amusement ; let 
them cling to error and do not attempt to displace it with the truth. 
Do you know what such logic is doing? It is fostering error. It 
is begetting peril. Romanists worship a man instead of God, take 
tradition instead of the scriptures, and turn away from the path 



HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 21 

Christ marked out, which is the path of safety. They do not stop 
there, but they teach their children so. The result of this teaching 
is seen in the hoodlums crowding our cities, filling our reforma- 
tories, prisons and jails, and utterly subverting the foundations of 
morality in the realm inhabited by them. They believe error, teach 
error, and practice crime. The cloud, born of this fa6l, darkens 
the skv. History declares that wherever popery has been estab- 
lished, in the full workings of its priestly domination, it has had a 
blighting influence upon the happiness, the knowledge and the ad- 
vancement of mankind. Enter any Roman Catholic street, mingle 
with the children, listen to the indecent expressions and beastly 
language of these Romish sufferers, and you perceive the influence of 
the religion they profess extending from the corrupt heart into the 
speech, and carrying with it the debasing influence of the confessional 
in which a debauched priesthood details the disgusting characteris- 
tics of Dens' extraordinary indecencies, in words and ideas so obscene 
and obje(5tionable as to be wholly unfit for publication. 

"Princes and lords may flourish and may fade, 
A breath can make them as a breath has made ; 
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride. 
If once destroyed can never be supplied." 

2. Romanists deceive Romanists in denying the truth. 

Recently the fruit of this lying has been witnessed in statements 
made concerning indulgences. In Swinton's "Outlines of the 
World's History" is this passage : "When Leo X came to the papal 
chair, he found the treasury of the church exhausted by the ambitious 
proje6ls of his predecessors. He therefore had recourse to every 
means which ingenuity could devise for recruiting his exhausted 
finances, and among these he adopted an extensive sale of indul- 
gences, which in former ages had been a source of large profits to 
the church. The Dominican friars, having obtained a monopoly of 
the sale in Germany, employed as their agent Tetzel, one of their 
order, who carried on the traflic in a manner that was very offensive, 
and especially so to the Augustinian friars." Every true history of 
<hat time proves this to be a true statement. 

The foot note to which Fr. Metcalf, re6lor of the Gate of Heaven 
church. South Boston, objedted, reads thus : 

"These indulgences were, in the early ages of the church, remis- 
sions of the penances imposed upon persons whose sins had brought 



22 HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 

scandal upon the community. But in process of time they were rep- 
resented as a6tual pardons of guilt, and the purchaser of indulgence 
was said to be delivered from all his sins." This is the simple truth 
mildly stated. Prof. Fisher of Yale college says upon the same 
subje6l, in his Outlines of Universal History : "The immediate oc- 
casion of the disturbance, the spark that kindled the flame, was the 
sale of indulgences in Saxony by a Dominican monk named Tetzel. 
Indulgences were the remission, total or partial, of penances, and 
in theory always presupposed repentance ; but as the business was 
managed in Germany at the time it amounted in the popular ap- 
prehension to a sale of absolution from guilt or to the ransom of de- 
ceased friends from purgatory for money." 

What is asserted by the church of R ome ? In Article X of the creed 
of Pius IV we find these words : "I aflirm that the power of indul- 
gences was left by Christ to his church and that the use of them is 
very helpful to Christian people." No scripture warrant is even 
pretended. 

What do Protestants believe ? That it is not in the power of man, 
nor of any assembly of ixien, to pardon sin ; but that it is the pre- 
rogative of Almighty God through and by the atonement of Jesus 
Christ. "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for 
mine own sake and will not remember thy sins." Isa. 43 : 25. 
*'Who can forgive sins but God only?" was the question of the 
scribes, that introduced Christ as the Saviour. Mark 2 : 7. "In 
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of His grace." Eph. i : 7* These 
declarations of scripture show that the power claimed by pope, 
priest or minister to remit sin is an invasion of the divine preroga- 
tive, and must be offensive in the sight of God. 

Dr. R. D. Elliott, of the school committee, declares that the whole 
matter was decided by the sub-committee before it came to the board. 

The board is composed of twenty-four members. Twelve are 
Roman Catholics. All were present and voted to exclude the book. 
Six Protestants were present. The vote was taken. The Catholics 
voted loudly and were in concert. The Protestants voted faintly and 
were in doubt, if not in trepidation. The Roman Catholics have 
their grasp upon the board, and, as usual, wield their power with 
fierceness and without regard to the feelings and interests of others. 
R.ev. Joseph T. Duryea, D. D., declared the statements of the book 



HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 23 

were untrue and said the boo k should be thrown out, and seconded 
the motion to have it thrown out. Rome never compromises. Is 
it not a shame that Romanism ever had the help of some compro- 
mising Protestant? It was Jurieu, the leader of the Protestants in 
France, who declared the possibility of a Romanist being saved. 
Romanists held inflexibly to the dodlrine that there is no salvation 
outside the church of Rome. As a result in France, men who loved 
sin and could enter the church, though steeped in crime, without a 
change of heart, by the purchase of indulgences, which pardoned 
the sins of the past and gave permission to indulge in the future, 
thousands said : "If Protestants admit that Romanists can be saved, 
and if Romanists declare that all outside their fold be lost, then safety 
is found in Rome and not outside of it." So Jurieu opened wide 
the gates to ruin, and thousa nds crowded them. As went the nobles 
so went the army, and as a result the persecution wave swept 
1,300,000 Protestants out of France. 

Fortunate is it for the American people that this fight has been 
begun in Boston. Public attention had been called to the aggres- 
sions of Romanism. In "Why Priests Should Wed," p. 303, at- 
tention was diredted to a sermon preached by Rev. Joseph T. 
Duryea, D. D., in the pulpit of the First Baptist church on Thanks- 
giving day, 1887, in which he sought to remove all apprehension or 
alarm because of the attack made by the Roman Catholic church 
upon our public school system. He said, "I have no religious 
prejudices." He further said, "I recognize the beneficent seivice 
to humanity of the Roman Catholic church, during the dark ages." 
Then and there it was shown that Rome made the ages dark by ex- 
tinguishing every light in her power, and by putting to death mil- 
lions of the lovers of Christ. The bid for the support of the Ro- 
man Catholic church was a success. At a public meeting in which 
the pastor of the Congregational church met with Roman Catholics 
as friends and brothers, he told them of his having bowed down to 
the pope of Rome and of having received his blessing. Whether 
he surrendered to the church and took the vows of a Jesuit, and 
continues in the service of the Congregational church that he may 
do the more harm to Protestantisin and more service to Romanism, 
is not known by the American people. Jesuitism provides for and 
pays well for such service as the Rev. Joseph T. Duryea, D. D., is 
now renderins^. The Protestants of New Ensrland owe it to the 



24 HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 

future of their youth that his influence be withstood and his sei-vility 
to error be exposed. 

Of the conflict born of this a6lion of the school board, the mag- 
nificent protest made at Faneuil hall, and the appointment of the 
committee of one hundred, it is not needful that I should speak. Let 
us turn attention to the statement authorized by the school commit- 
tee in regard to indulgences, and confute it. They say, "By an in- 
dulgence is meant the remission of the temporal punishment due to 
sins already forgiven." That is as far from being truth as Roman- 
ists, helped by a Congregational minister, can make it. Indulgences 
were an invention of Urban II, in the eleventh century, as a recom- 
pense for those who went in person upon the enterprise of conquer- 
ing the Holy Land. They were afterwards granted to those who 
hired a soldier for that purpose, and in process of time were be- 
stowed on such as gave money for accomplishing any pious work 
enjoined by the pope. The dogma is as follows : 

"That all good works of the saints, over and above those which 
were necessary toward their own justification, are deposited, to- 
gether with the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, in one inexhaustible 
treasury. The keys of this were committed to St. Peter and to his 
successors, the popes, who maj open it at pleasure, and, by trans- 
ferring a portion of this superabundant merit to any particular per- 
son, for a sum of money, may convey to him either the pardon of 
his own sins, or a release for any one in whom he is interested from 
the pains of purgatory." This is, through and through, an utter 
rejection of Christ, in whom our life is hid ; and because we put off" 
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, and put on 
the new man, permitting the word of Christ to dwell in us richly, 
the Christian looks upon his righteousness as filthy rags. Christ is 
all and in all. Look at Tetzel. He enters towns in procession — 
companies of priests bearing candles and banners, choristers chant- 
ing and ringing bells. At the churches a red cross was set up on 
the altars, a silk banner floating from it, with papal arms, and a great 
iron dish at the foot to receive the equivalents for the myriads of 
years of the penal fire of Tartarus. He came to Wittenberg. 
Luther's flock bought indulgences. It was cheaper than going to 
confession . Luther was compelled to pronounce against them , pope 
or no pope. This he did, and pronounced that no man's sins could 
be pardoned by them. 



HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 2^ 

It was the beginning of the reformation. On it went, deepening 
an.l widening like a mighty river, sweeping all before it. Then to 
the door of the church he nailed the theses against indulgences, on 
the last day of Odlober, 15 17. There were ninety-five of them. I 
commend them to J. T. Duryea, D, D. Tetzel replied, or got some 
one to reply for him, and burned Luther's books. The students of 
Wittenberg stood by Luther, and made a bonfire of 800 books of 
Tetzel. That a6l showed their contempt for indulgences. The 
pope stood for the lie and against the brave man telling the truth, 
and issued a bull against the monk. Luther replied fearlessly, as 
was his wont : "You are not God's vicegerent ; you are another's, 
I think. I take your bull as an imparchmerted lie and burn it. 
You will do w^hat you see good next ; this is what I do." It was on 
the tenth of December, 1520, three years after the beginning of the 
business, that Luther, with a great concourse of people, took this 
indignant step of burning the pope's decree in the market place of 
Wittenberg. Wittenberg looked on with shoutings. The whole 
world was looking on. This was in 1520. In 1888, Boston is 
summoned to take up this work, and through remonstrance and ar- 
gument kindle a fire which shall spread wider and rise higher, until 
it shall become unquenchable and envelop all the world. This 
much for the olden time. 

There has been no disposition on the part of former school boards 
or citizens to denounce Romanists or to disturb them in their re- 
ligious belief. Swinton dwelt on what was true in the past. Ro- 
manists deny it. To deny a truth is as bad as to tell a falsehood. 
It proves that Romanists are without a trained conscience. They 
are taught that they may lie for the good of the church. They ex- 
emplify their teachings, and a Congregational minister refuses pub- 
licly to denounce the error or stand with those who would protect 
the youth of the land. Say not that these questions of dogma should 
be left to theological disputants. They belong to the people. They 
influence life. Tbey shape destiny. Heaven or hell is the outcome 
of dogma. 

J. Romanists deceive Romanists by statements ivhich are 
false as to fa6l and designed to be m.isleading as to inference. 

When they say "that in order to gain any indulgence whatever, 
you must be in a state of grace," they make a declaration utterly 
wanting in truth. 



26 HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 

Tetzel sold his indulgences to robbers, thieves and murderers, and 
claimed that they were as clean as Adam before his fall, so soon as 
the click of the money was heard in the iron box. They tell the 
story of Tetzel and a robber. He bought an indulgence for a large 
sum, which gave him the privilege of committing any sin. The 
money went into the iron chest. Through a dark forest Tetzel 
and his chest were going. The robber stopped him and demanded 
his money or his life. Tetzel told who he was. "I know you," 
said the robber, and pulled out the indulgence. Tetzel read. His 
sin had found him out. He lost his money, and the story proves 
the utter falsity of the claim that indulgences have only to do with 
sins remitted. This sin was to be committed. 

Then again, when Romanists talk about a state of grace they de- 
ceive. Romanism ignores a state of grace as Protestants under- 
stand it. The Bible teaches that a man passes into a state of grace 
when he is born again, when he is regenerated b}^ the power of the 
Holy Ghost. Then he becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. 
Romanism ignores all this, and claims that an a6t of baptism, per- 
formed by a man, washes away sin. In other Avords, Romanism 
rests her hopes for salvation on baptismal regeneration and the sac- 
raments. 

The word of God teaches that whoever confesses with the 
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believeth in the heart that God raised 
him from the dead, shall be saved. ( Rom. 10:9.) When saved 
he would not take an indulgence to sin were it offered him, and 
would not use it if he had a million. He hates sin and loves holi- 
ness when redeemed. 

The purgatorial theory is built on a lie. Indulgences are linked 
with it. 

The form of indulgences then given w^as as follows : "May our 
Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thee and absolve thee by the 
merits of his most holy passion. And by his authority, and of his 
blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of the most holy pope, granted 
and committed tj me in these paits, I do absolve thee, first from all 
ecclesiastical censures, in whatever form they have been incuried ; 
then from all thy sins, transgressions, excesses, how enormous soever 
they may be, even from such as are reserved for the cognizance of 
the holy see, and as far as the keys of the holy church extend. I 
remit to you all punishment which you deserve in purgatory on that 



HOW RCMAXISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 2/ 

account ; and I restore you to the holy sacraments of the church, to 
the unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and purit}' which you 
possessed at baptism ; so that when you die, the gates of punishment 
' shall be shut, and the gates of the paradise of delights shall be 
opened ; and if you shall not die at present this grace shall remain 
in full force when you are at the point of death." Can any delusion 
be \vorse ? 

The statement made by the Romanists, with the assent of the 
Congregational minister, is that indulgences remit the temporal 
punishment of sins forgiven ; to this they add : "Every sin, how- 
ever grievous, is remitted through the sacrament of penance or by 
an a6l of perfe6l contrition, as regards its guilt and the eternal pun- 
ishment due to it. But the debt of temporal punishment is not al- 
ways remitted at the same time. The latter is done away with by 
deep penitence or by works of satisfaction, e. g., prayers, alms, fast- 
ing, etc., or by patient endurance of troubles and adversities sent us 
by God or by the satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ and the saints, 
applied to us by the "church under certain conditions, which appli- 
cation we call an indulgence." 

"An indulgence is not then a pardon for sin, because sin must be 
remitted before an indulgence can be gained. Much less is it a per- 
mission to commit sin, for even God himself could not give such 
permission." "In order to gain any indulgence whatever you must 
be in a state of grace." So say these deceivers, and we are told that 
it does not interest the masses of the community. To this we dis- 
sent. Nothing interests them more. We have ^vaded through this 
long definition, not because there is any truth or honesty in it, but 
to show that, even if their statement is based on fact, Swinton's state- 
ment contains an ackno\vledged truth, and also to call attention to 
the truth that an indulgence, as taught by Rome, is a stupendous 
lie, calculated to delude and sure to damn the believer who trusts to 
this artifice. Indulgences had to do with sins to be committed. 
According to a book called Tax of the Sacred Roman Chancery, in 
which are contained the exact sums to be levied for the pardon of 
each particular sin to be permitted, are these given : 

8. d. 
For procuring abortion, - - - - - 7 ^ 

" simonv, ------- 10 6 

" sacrilege, - - - -- -- 10 6 



2Q HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 

S. d. 

For taking a false oath in a criminal case, - 9 

'* robbery, - - - - - - - 12 

'' burning a neighbor's house, - - - 12 

" lying with a mother or sister, - - 'j 6 

" murdering a layman, - _ _ - 76 

'' defiling a virgin, ______ ^ 

*' keeping a concubine, _ _ _ _ 10 6 

'' laying violent hands on a clergyman, - - 10 6 

In the light of such a statement, taken from Roman Catholic au- 
thorities, as much a fa6l as any other price list, Roman Catholics 
claim that an indulgence can only be granted in a state of grace. 
The fact is, indulgences cannot be granted at all. To say differ- 
ently is to belie the truth. Purgatory is only a delusion. Roman 
Catholic teaching controverts the truth. History simply shows that 
the Romish lie was born in 1096, that Urban II was its inventor, 
and that from that period deluded people have believed a lie that 
they might be damned. In 1300, Boniface issued an indulgence for 
all that \vould make a pilgrimage to Rome. A price was put on 
sins like shop keepers' wares and remission of sins by means of in- 
dulgences for jingling coin. The church in 15 17 was acting on the 
shameless principle of the chamberlain of Innocent VIII, who said : 
"God willeth not the death of a sinner, but that he pay and live." 
In one of the pardon tickets of 15 17 there is a figure of a Dominican 
monk with a cross, crown of thorns and a burning heart. In the 
upper corners is a nailed hand. On the front are the words : ' 'Pope 
Leo X prayer. This is the length and breadth of the wounds of 
Christ in his holy side. As often as any one kisses it he has seven 
years' indulgence." This has no reference to sins forgiven, and it 
is a lie to teach differently. On the reverse side: "The cross 
measured seven times makes the height of Christ in his humanity. 
He who kisses it is preserved for some days from sudden death, fall- 
ing sickness, apoplexy." 

The dealers put up the following notice : "The red indulgence 
cross, with the pope's arms suspended on it, has the same virtue as 
the cross of Christ. The pardon makes those who accept it cleaner 
than baptism, purer even than Adam in a state of innocence in para- 
dise. The dealer in pardons saves more people than Peter." The 
abuse went on until it became madness. (Ludwig Hauser, p. 16.) 



HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 29 

Then came Luther. The Bible chained to the altar had opene* 
his eyes to the errors of Rome. Tossed by doubt, distressed by sin, 
he had gone to Rome ; there he saw Romanism at its worst. The 
Bible in Erfurt library taught him another lesson than that of fasts 
and vigils. Luther now learned that a man was saved not by sing- 
ing masses, but by the infinite grace of God — a fa6l which the Rev. 
Joseph T. Duryea, D. D., is pleased to ignore. 

To Rome he went in distress. As he looked about he found that 
Italy was plunged in Egyptian darkness — all were ignorant of Christ 
and of the things that are Christ's. He saw that religion as it pro- 
fessed to be, and religion as it was embodied in the lives of church 
dignitaries, priests and friars, were in startling contrast. He knew 
his peril. John Huss had come to Rome with all imaginable prom- 
ises and safe conduct. Rome turned her back on them all. They 
laid him instantly in a stone dungeon, three feet wide, six feet high, 
seven feet long, and burned the true voice out of the world, choked it 
in smoke and fire. "The elegant pagan, Leo X, by this fire decree,' 
says Carlyle, "had kindled into noble, just Vk^rath, the bravest heart 
then living in the world." Indulgences were farmed out to a bank- 
rupt ; in their sale there was no more thought of religion than in the 
sale of lottery tickets. 

Both lies are of the devil, and how a Congregational minister could 
forego the privilege of preaching the truth to the deceived passes 
comprehension. He ignored his commission. He belied his pro- 
fession and betrayed his Lord. Either he knows better than to in- 
timate that for stating a truth a book dealing with historic fact ought 
to be thrown out of the schools, and a6ts in this manner to curry 
favor with Romanists, and so ought to be retired from the school 
board, or he does not know the truth and is unfit for the position. 
In either event the way out is his best way. The children need either 
a more honest or a more intelligent man to represent their interests. 
This is not said in a spirit of raillery or pleasantry. We are dealing 
with momentous issues. God does not suffer us to trifle with the 
truth. "For it is impossible that those who were once enlightened, 
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the 
Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God, if they shall fall 
away, to renew them again unto repentance." Heb. 6:4, 5. Does 
the Rev. Dr. Duryea illustrate that statement when he says to put 
back Swinton's History would make a confession that he personally 



30 HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 

would not make till his dying day? This is perilous ground to take. 
Confession of sin is good for the soul. Any bigot can cling to an 
error ; only a hero will insist on telling the truth. 

4. Romanis7n deals with and in indzdgences in these days of 
Leo XIII quite as much as she dealt with them in the days of 
Leo X. 

Romanism knows no improvement. Evolution theories may ap- 
ply to science and to art, but not to Romanism. What Rome was in 
the dark ages she is in this 19th century — as cruel, as blind, as self- 
ish, as much opposed to education, as full of superstition, as at any 
time in the past. 

Sad and melancholy as is the truth, it is here and evidently here 
to stay. There is a paper circulated among the young, called by a 
priestly name, which carries to the homes of vast numbers of indi- 
viduals this fearful superstition and falsehood known as indulgences, 
fresh from the hand of Leo XIII. 

I have in my hand an Agnus Dei, v^ith a little of the earth from 
the foot of the cross, of which, doubtless, cartloads have been shipped 
away, which saves from drowning, etc. Here is a book bought at 
Donahue's, published in Barclay street, Ne\v York, with the appro- 
bation of John Hughes, archbishop, as full of Romish lies as an ^^^ 
is of meat, circulated among Romanists. This is the caption : 

' 'Devotion of the Scapulars. Scapular of Our Lady of Mount 
Carmel. As it is considered a mark of distinction by men to have 
attendants wearing their livery, so does the blessed Virgin like to see 
her servants wear her scapular ; it should be a sign of their having 
devoted themselves to her sei-\*ice and of their belonging to the fam- 
ily of the Mother of God." (St. Alphonsus Liguori.) 

A scapular is a piece of cloth worn on the bosom and on the back 
to procure indulgences to sin or indulgences which shall free from 
the guilt or pain of sin. No^v Romanists are making a distinction 
between the payment of the debt in purgatory and an indulgence to 
sin. This is all deception. If Romanists can do the one, they can 
do both. Besides, whenever indulgences are procured, the besotted 
run the risk and plunge deeper into sin because of it. 

In Canada is an indulgence of Pio Nono, offering to all who ert 
listed in his army indulgences for themselves and their relatives, 
framed and hung in the homes of the deluded. Here is one th.*c 
or,ers 100 days' indulgence each time repeated, signe Pius IX, 



HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS. 3 1 

June 3, 1874. Here is another, offering indulgences to all who will 
contribute to the building of University college of Ottawa ; the holder 
of this certificate shall be entitled to share 25 masses daily and in all 
the prayers and good works of the Rev. Oblate Fathers. 
For ten years, by a contribution of 25 cents. 

Forever, __----.-- $200 
A family for ten years, - - - - - - $100 

Thus are men and women deceived. They trust in man rather 
than in the efiicacy of the atonement by Jesus Christ. This gives 
priests power at sick beds over the wills of the dying and over the 
purses of living relatives and friends. From the living they get 
profit in the sale of indulgences, Agnus Deis, scapularies, masses of 
every kind, dispensations from fasts, removal of impediments to mar- 
riage, mira'^ulous medals, various defences against the devil, grace 
through the images or relics of patron saints, and other similar 
devices. 

Remember there is nothing to be gotten from the Roman Catho- 
lic church without money. No money, no baptism ; no money, no 
marriage ; no money, no burial ; no money, nothing. 

If Romanists deceive Romanists it becomes Christians to preach 
to them the gospel. The mortification and shame which come to 
us because of the condu6l of one who professes allegiance to Christ 
are very hard to bear. Let the shame and disgrace end there. 
Christians, awake and put your armor on. Napoleon in Egypt, close 
by the pyramids, said: '"Twenty centuries behold your actions. " 
Christian people, look up to the throne. Jesus is there. Look about 
you ; behold the perishing. 

Romanists are crowding the broad road to death. Millions of 
youth are interested in this controversy. Will Americans rise to the 
level of their great opportunity and do their whole duty, or will they 
bow down to Rome and barter away their God-given rights ? This 
is the question of the hour. How ^vill it be answered ? Shall men 
be taught error or the truth ? Remember, as a man thinketh in his 
heart, so is he. Think right, and all will be well. Think wrong and 
a6l wrong, and ruin awaits you. 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF 
PRESUMPTION. 



"And I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, 
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." John lo : 28. 

Thus spake the Shepherd to his sheep as he looked upon them in 
love, and opened to them the gates of hope. That there might be 
no mistaking his intent or promise he added the words, "My Father 
which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck 
them out of mv Father's hand." Notwithstanding this, Leo XIII 
has the effrontery, the brazen presumption, the ineffable audacity to 
oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is wor- 
shipped, and then assumes the power that he can pluck God's re- 
deemed out of his hand, shut them up in purgatory, keep them 
there at his will, let them out when he chooses, and the press prints 
it as if it were truth, and Christian people refuse to oppose him, as 
if he had claim to respact. ^Purgatory is the bottom of the bucket 
of popery's hellish intent. Take it away and the church would be 
bankrupt. Once, I described purgatory as the cap sheaf of popery. 
A cap sheaf is the crown of a company of sheaves. It covers all, 
touches each one and holds all together. This the doctrine of pur- 
gatory does for Romanism. Give to a company of bandits the rule 
of the town, let them have the ability to rob, to kill and to destroy, 
and you strike terror into the very soul of the community and take 
out courage from the heart and strength from the arm. Popery 
goes one better. It not only robs and destroys here, but it claiir.s 
to hold the keys of death and hell, and to be able to damn beyond 
the grave. It comes to the bedside of the dying, kindles its candles, 
sprinkles its holy water, burns its incense, pours out its oil, mum- 
bles its Latin, stretches out its hand for money and leaves the soul 
in purgatory, which is ten times hotter than hell. Was there ever 
presumption like it ? And yet this Leo XIII claims to be able to do 
in an Encyclical addressed to Roman Catholics throughout the 
world, Sept. 30, 1SS8. 33 



34 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 

Here stands my Lord and declares "I give unto you, "ah, helpless 
one, trusting in my blood, pillowing your head on faith in my power 
to save, "eternal life." Life that outlasts the stars ; life that breaks 
through the fetters of decay on the wings of this uplifting hope, 
soars above superstition and its mists, wickedness and its power, into 
a realm undarkened by a cloud, in which Jesus Christ is the Sun 
of righteousness. Hark ! A loud voice is heard. It sounds out 
from heaven saying, "Now is come salvation and strength and the 
kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ." Let us join the 
redeemed about the throne and with them sing with a loud voice : 
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, riches and 
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." 
Worthy because he wields his power for the good of those who cast 
away the fetters of sin and robe themselves in righteousness ; riches 
because he gives to all who call upon him with an open and liberal 
hand ; wisdom because none so desire to exercise it for the ameliora- 
tion of mankind ; strength, because he is our deliverer, fights the 
battles of the helpless so that with Paul all can say, "When I am 
weak, then am I strong ; " and honor and glory and blessing, be- 
cause none in heaven and none on earth can compare with Him. 
He is the chiefest among ten thousand and the one altogether lovely. 

Thank God for the privilege of declaring this on earth. We shall 
sing his praises in heaven but God delights to have us confess Jesus 
Christ on earth. 

Beside this privilege, contrast the humiliation of 300,000,000 of 
people who are compelled to turn from Jesus Christ, while they 
bow down to a man who claims to have the power to decree the 
supreme honor of the saints. 

He decrees it. Leo XIII will, according to Roman Catholic 
theology, enter purgatory, and the hat will be passed around all 
over the world to pray him out of the fire. 

Let us on the wings of faith, like eagles cleaving through the 
clouds that cap the mountains, shout out today, so that all may hear, 
Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. He gives eternal 
life to those that welcome him as King, as Saviour and Ruler, and 
no pope machine called a church can pluck them out of his hand. 

I. Purgatory is the masterpiece of presumption, because as a 
human invention it challenges the might of Almighty God. The 
Lord Jesus Christ declares, "I give you eternal life." Rome boldly 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 35 

says, You do not, until we get our money for masses and consent 
to the deliverance of the soul from purgatory. 

Is this true or false? Does Rome in 1888 stand for the dogma? 
The answer is furnished by the encyclical of Leo XIII. This is the 
language in part : 

"Therefore with all the necessary dispensations and derogations, 
we fix the last Sunday of the month of September as a day of most 
ample expiation, on which there shall be celebrated by us and also 
by each of our brethren, the. patriarchs, the archbishops and bishops 
and other prelates exercising jurisdiction over a diocese — ^by each in 
his own patriarch, metropolitan or cathedral church — a special mass 
for the dead, with the greatest solemnity possible and according to 
the rite indicated by the missal, for the commemoration of all the 
faithful departed.". This was to be done everywhere, in every Ro- 
man Catholic church or chapel in the world. 

"Thus the pious souls who expiate by such great sufferings the 
remainder of their faults, will receive special and most opportune 
relief from the saving host, which the universal church, united with 
its visible head and animated with the same spirit of charity, will 
offer to God in order that he may admit them to a place of consola- 
tion, light and eternal peace." 

There is the presumption — clear, distinct and avowed. Rome 
claims the right to hold millions of saints in the flames of purgatory, 
and God can only get them out through her agency. This blasphe- 
mous lie is believed in. Newspapers print it without dissent and 
become aids in the deception. Here then is a human invention, 
unsupported by a line of scripture, unknown to the primitive church, 
a money-making, conscienceless scheme, designed and worked to 
take money from the pockets of the deluded and ensnared, endorsed 
— at least not opposed, ridiculed and caricatured as it deserves to be. 
Be not deceived. There is no shame in the harlot of the Tiber, 
with her pomp of outward show, her gorgeous rites, symbols and 
forms manipulated by priests and nuns ; with her confessional and 
penance, her Mariolatry and canonization of saints, her superstition 
and error, her willful perversion of the truth, her lasciviousness and 
lewdness enthroning her in the hearts of the vile, so that she may 
glorify herself and live deliciously, saying in her heart, "I sit a 
queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow." Rome presents 
a terrible theme for contemplation. She holds her subjects with a 



36 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 

grasp of iron. Trained from childhood up to hate Protestantism 
and to fear the awful curse of a church if he should adopt scriptural 
views, the average Romanist is a very difficult person to reach. He 
does not consider himself bound by any ties of honor to speak the 
truth upon the subject of religion ; indeed it is esteemed rather mer- 
itorious than otherwise to throw the gospel worker off and do him 
as much harm in a moral point of view as may be possible. 

Composed of a class either unable or unwilling to read the Scrip- 
tures, they are ruled by the priesthood and accept with implicit faith 
whatever is taught by the church. 

Romanism was conceived in rebellion against the plainest teach- 
ings of God's word and it was brought forth in iniquity by the aid 
of Satan, "with all power and signs and lying wonders and with 
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because 
they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved." 
Romanism deserves contempt and hate. Romanists should receive 
love and prayer and effort. For them Christ died. They are being 
deceived. They are trampling on the covenant of promise. They 
are journeying in the broad road to ruin. They believe a lie. As 
a result, unusual services were held on Sept. 30 in the Roman Cath- 
olic churches. The buildings were draped in mourning, the offi- 
ciating priests appeared in black vestments, the music of the mass 
was imposingly rendered and the churches were crowded to over- 
flowing. 

Archbishop Williams of Boston read from the twenty- second of 
Matthew the parable of the king's son. "And when the king came 
in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding 
garment. And he saith unto him. Friend, how camest thou in 
hither, not having a wedding garment ? And he was speechless. 
Then said the king to the servants. Bind him hand and foot, and 
take him away and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be 
wailing and gnashing of teeth." He then, without explaining how 
this passage teaches the dodlrine of purgatory, and utterly ignoring 
the fa6l that it refers to what is to be done in this world and not the 
next, said that "There is a middle place between heaven and hell 
where sins not committed directly against God may be expurgated." 
And further, it was argued that the prayers of the living, the giving 
out of a part of themselves in the way of sympathy and self-sacri- 
fice, would be of effedl in earlier releasing their departed friends 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION- 37 

from the torture of purgatory to the home of bhss. The doc5lrine 
of purgatory is taught in Boston. If it is false what can be more 
pernicious ? Rome claims our Saviour Jesus Christ cannot deliver 
the soul from punishment except by the help of the Roman Catho- 
lic church. If this be so, then no one is safe, not even Romanists. 
If no one is safe except those delivered through the intercession of 
priests, then the priest is enthroned in the place of God and God 
is dethroned and becomes dependent on the help of man. These 
are terrible utterances. Let us proceed v^ith care. Are w^e not 
possibly deceived? 

Cardinal Gibbons, in his book entitled The Faith of our Fathers, 
declares, page 248, that the doctrine of purgatory is plainly con- 
tained in the Old Testament and piously pra6liced by the Hebrew- 
people, and quotes not a word of the Bible but a passage in II Mac- 
cabees 13 :43-46. This book w^as not written in Hebrew, finds no 
place in the canon of scripture and yet is quoted by Cardinal Gib- 
bons as if it were a part of the word of God. Does not he know 
that by that act he becomes a public deceiver.? These extracts and 
statements abundantly show that when we charge Romanists with 
teaching a do6lrine abhorrent to reason, in utter opposition to the 
teachings of scripture, and invented that by it the deceived may be 
robbed, we cannot be accused of an attempt to deceive or mislead. 

Purgatory, or the intermediate state, is said by Faber to be on the 
brink of hell. Said Tetzel, "The very moment that the money 
clinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purga- 
tory and flies to heaven." Can imposition go farther.? Can it fare 
better than in Boston, or Washington, or Philadelphia, or New 
York.? 

The pope has established in many churches and monasteries priv- 
ileged altars on which whoever causes a mass to be said on a certain 
day, draws such a soul as he chooses from purgatory. To bulls, 
by which these indulgences are granted, a clause is ordinarily added : 

"These indulgences are for those who will pay for them." 
Pierre du Moulin, Romish Traditions, p. 361. 

Can any presumption be more astounding.? Christ says, I give 
eternal life. Rome claims that it can only be obtained through 
money and through price. 

2. Purgatory is the masterpiece of presumption because it trifles 
with scripture. "Purgatory, in all its forms, is a variation from 



38 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 

scriptural authority. Revelation affords it no countenance. No 
other dogma of Romanism, except image worship and the invoca- 
tion of saints, seems to borrow so little support from the book of 
inspiration. The Bible, by certain management and dexterity, may 
appear to lend some encouragement to transubstantiatlon and ex- 
treme unction. But the ingenuity of man has never been able to 
discover a single argument for a middle place of purification possess- 
ing even a shadow of plausibility. The name Itself is not in all the 
sacred volume and the attempts which Have been made to find the 
tenet in its inspired contents have only shown the fatuity of the au- 
thors The body of an unhappy heretic was never more unmerci- 
fully mangled and disjointed in a Spanish inquisition with the design 
of forcing confession, than the book of revelation, with the intention 
of compelling it to patronize purgatory." (Edgar's Variations of 
Popery, p. 497.) 

Four passages of scripture are referred to as proof. In Matthew 
5 :25, 26, Christ says, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, while 
thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver 
thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou 
be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee. Thou shall by no 
means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." 

The partisans of purgatory argue from another passage in Mat- 
thew. "The sin against the Holy Ghost, it is said, shall not be 
forgiven, neither in this world nor the world to come. This the 
Romish doctors account their strong hold. They claim that it ad- 
mits some sins will be remitted in the world to come. But they 
seem to forget that it says the imprisoned cannot get out until he 
has paid the uttermost farthing. This is plainly no remission. 
The words of I Cor. 3: 13 have been pressed into service. It is 
claimed that the fire shall try every man's work. Rome talks about 
persons. Paul spoke of works. The scorching fire, mentioned 
by the apostle, is not purgatorian but probatory. Its effect is not 
to purify but to try. The trial is not of persons, but of works. 
The persons in this ordeal shall be saved, while the works, if wood, 
hay or stubble, shall be burned up. The popish purgatory, on the 
contrary. Is not for probation but expiation, and tries not the a6lion, 
but the agent ; not the work, but the worker. (Edgar's Variations 
of Popery, p. 504.) Peter is also quoted in favor of purgatory be- 
cause of the passage in I Peter 3:19, which speaks of Christ 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 39 

*<preaching to the spirits in prison." Romanists have fought Ro- 
manists in regard to this passage through all the centuries since it 
was written. One finds the prison in the bosom of Abraham into 
which the Son of God, some time between his crucifixion and res- 
urrection, descended to liberate the Jewish saints. Justin, Clemens, 
and many more held this view. 

The prison, according to a second party, is hell, in which those 
who in the days of Noah were incredulous were incarcerated be- 
cause of their unbelief. To these Jesus preached not in his hu- 
manity, but in his divinity ; not by His own, but by Noah's minis- 
try. He inspired the ante-deluvian patriarch to preach righteous- 
ness to a degenerate people. Augustine among the ancients and 
Aquinas among the schoolmen contended for this vievs^. The in- 
terpretation which would make the prison signify purgatory is en- 
tirely modern and w^as utterly unknown to the ancients. Many of 
the fathers testify, in the plainest language, against an intermediate 
state. Said Augustine, "To avoid hell is to obtain heaven, and to 
miss heaven is to enter hell." 

3. Purgatory is not even an invention of Rome. Plato antici- 
pated popery at least a thousand years. Rome takes from the heathen 
a useless and deforming wen and adds it to the fair form of Christian- 
ity. Behold it as believed in Donegal, [reland, which was for many 
years the object of pilgrimages and various superstitions. A de- 
scription of it is found in O'Sullivan's Compendium of the R. C. 
History of Ireland, signed and authorized by cardinals, archbishops 
and bishops. Its date is 1621. We quote, "There were numbers 
of men which no arithmetic can reckon up, all lying on the ground, 
pierced through the body. They uttered hoarse cries of agony, 
their tongues cleaving to their jaws. They were buffeted by violent 
tempests and shattered by repeated blows of devils." This is not 
recorded of the damned, but of the redeemed. 

"The devils drove them into another plain, horrible with ex- 
quisite tortures. Some with iron chains about their necks and limbs 
were suspended over the fires ; others were burned with red-hot 
cinders. Not a few were transfixed with spits and roasted, melting 
metal being poured into them." 

Such is the prospect of every Roman Catholic. Is it wrong to 
say that the horrid delusion is fidlion and not fa6l ? Shall we con- 
sent to the setting aside of the most positive declaration contained 



40 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 

in the words, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my 
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life and 
shall not come unto condemnation, but is passed from death unto 
life"? 

Life begins and continues. Though your sins be as scarlet they 
shall be as w^hite as snow. Rome says they shall only be made w^hite 
bv fire. Romanists, whom will you believe ? The blessed Christ, 
or men w^ho invent a fiction to rob the soul of peace and filch money 
from the pockets of the deceived ? 

The most dreadful descriptions of the tortures endured in these 
imaginary regions, founded upon dreams, visions or supernatural 
revelations, were given by fanatical or designing priests and monks, 
being calculated to awaken the terror of the superstitious and to in- 
duce them to leave no means untried which might shorten their own 
period of suffering, or, by a better fortune, enable them to avoid 
altogether the necessity of making a visit to purgatory on their way 
to heaven. 

A single instance of these descriptions will be sufficient to give 
an idea of the general character of the whole : "Behold a vallev of 
vast dimensions. To the left is a vast region covered with roasting 
furnaces, and to the right with icy cold, hail and snow. The wdiole 
valley is filled with human souls which a tempest tosses in all direc- 
tions. The unhapp}' spirits, unable to bear the violent heat, leap 
into the shivering cold, which again drives them back to the scorch- 
ing flames w^hich cannot be extinguished. A numberless multitude 
of deformed souls are in this manner whirled about and tormented 
without intermission in the extremes of alternate heat and cold. 
This, according to Bellarmin, is the place of chastisement for such 
as defer confession and amendment till the hour of death. All 
these will, however, at the last day be admitted to heaven ; wdiile 
many through alms, vigils, prayers and especially the mass, will be 
liberated even before the judgment. 

With such horrible materials to work upon the fears of the super- 
stitious multitude, ever ready in this as in the dark ages to swallow 
the grossest absurdities of monkish imposture, and cherishing im- 
plicit faith in the almost unbounded power of their spiritual guides, 
it is no difficult thing to base upon the fiction of purgatory the doc- 
trine of indulgences ; first to excite the fears of the multitude bv 
portraying in vivid colors the torments of the one, and then by work- 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 4I 

ing upon those fears and inculcating the unlimited power of the pope 
and the priesthood over these terrible regions, to lay a foundation 
for the establishment of the other. Purgatory is a scheme devised 
to get money. 

There is much force in the words of the pious Tillotson : "We 
make no money out of the mistakes of the people ; nor do we fill 
their heads with fears of new places of torment to make them empty 
their purses in the vain hope to be delivered out of them. We do 
not, like them, pretend that we have control of a mighty bank and 
treasury of merits in the church, which they sell for ready money, 
giving bills of exchange from the pope on purgatory, when they who 
grant them have no reason to believe they will avail them or be ac- 
cepted in the other world." Tillotson, vol. Ill, p. 320. Roman- 
ists admit that when the fear of purgatory dies out there is no sale 
for indulgences. No purgatory, no indulgences. Millions of 
money left as legacies have been received by the church in payment 
for masses for the comfort and release of the souls in purgatory. 

Leo X was a bankrupt. The church of Rome was in dire need. 
He resorted to indulgences. Millions of money poured into the 
treasury. St. Peter's church in Rome was built out of money thus 
obtained. 

Vast sums are obtained at the present time in this way. Boxes in 
churches and monasteries and in the hands of the votaries of the 
church are accompanied with invitations to give money for the re- 
lief and delivery of souls in purgatory. 

This is in line w^ith what was done in the past. Said the com- 
missioners of the Archbishop of Mayence, "The first benefit we 
announce is the complete pardon of all sins, and it is not possible 
to speak of any greater benefit than this, since man wdio lives in 
sin is deprived of the divine favor and by this complete pardon he 
recovers^ the grace of God." This is done, not by the pardon of 
sins through the atonement wrought by Jesus Christ, but to obtain 
this, said the commissioners, "it is only necessary to purchase an 
indulgence." "And to those who desire to deliver souls from pur- 
gatory and to procure for them forgiveness of their sins, let them 
put their money in the chest ; but it is not needful that they should 
feel sorrow of heart or make confession with the lips. Let them 
only hasten to bring their money, for they will thus do a work most 
profitable to departed souls and to the building of the church of St. 



42 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 

Peter." In the face of this, we are told for the purposes of decep- 
tion that to obtain an indulgence the seeker must be in a state of 
grace. Bring out the fa6ls of history and nail these falsehoods to 
the counter of public condemnation. 

It was Tetzel who became the exponent of the abhorrent dodlrine 
and excited the ire of Luther. Hear him ; ''Indulgences," said 
he, "are the most precious and sublime of God's gifts. This cross 
( pointing to the red cross ) has as much efficacy as the cross of 
Jesus Christ. Draw near and I will give you letters duly sealed, 
by which even the sins you shall hereafter desire to commit shall 
all be forgiven you. I would not exchange my privileges for those 
of St. Peter in heaven, for I have saved more souls with my indul- 
gences than he with his sermons. There is no sin so great that the 
indulgence cannot reach it. Let him only pay largely and it shall 
be forgiven him. Even repentance is not indispensable." What 
excuse is there for the false statement made on the authority of high 
officials "that an indulgence is not a pardon for sin," and that it is 
not a permission to commit sin.-* Let the truth be told and it will 
appear that to conceal the truth of histoiy is not the way to educate 
the youth of America. We are accustomed to say that only ignorant 
and unrefle6ting persons can believe it. Alas, it is not true. 
Thousands of cultured people accept the dogma and go into the 
eternal world deluded and desstroyed. 

A gentleman of w^ealth and position was riding in a stage coach. 
He w^as profane. It seemed to be a habit rather than an evil inten- 
tion to swear. When remonstrated with he said, "I am a member 
ofthechurch." "What church?" "The Roman Catholic." Then 
attempting to show him his peril he remarked, "I pay by the 
quarter and have left in my will money for masses, and so am all 
right." Argument vs^as wasted on him. In a few days he died 
with a sunstroke and then learned how little it would avail him to 
hold the priest responsible for the loss of his soul. The Romanist 
cannot sing with us : "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' 
blood and righteDusness. 

He is exposed to the wrath of God w^hich is revealed against all 
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. 
The truth is to deliver from sin and give freedom to the soul and 
secure the cleansing which is born of the washing of the blood of 
Christ. 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 43 

5. Purgatory is without foundation in scripture as a place of 
punishment after death. Provision is made for souls in life. Now 
is the time. There is a purgatory provided here, a glorious pur- 
gatory. It is the blood of Christ that cleanseth from all sin. Sins 
may be mortal or venial, but the purgatory in I John i : 7, is "If 
we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one 
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." There is the true purgatory. Come to the fountain 
and have your sins washed away and turn to Jesus Christ who de- 
clares, "And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never 
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." 

When we believe our sins are "blotted out as a thick cloud. 
Is. 44 : 22. We have seen the clouds scattered and the blue sky 
appear. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
world. John i :2g. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not 
for ours only but for the sins of the whole world. I John 2:2. If 
Christ's blood expiates, purgatory is useless beyond the grave. 
Behind is hell, beyond is heaven. God does not punish twice, the 
substitute and the sinner, too. Jesus died that we might live. We 
live because Jesus died. He is the author and finisher of salvation. 

"Who are these who are arrayed in white robes, and whence 
came they?" Rev. 7:13. Are the robes from purgatory? Far 
from it. These are they which came out of great tribulation and 
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb. As Dr. Cumming says, "Behold and examine for yourselves 
which is the church which seems to embody most of the love and 
mercy of God, the church which tells you that after Jesus has suf- 
fered that our sins may be forgiven, after His blood has been shed 
so amply that propitiation might be made and that we might be 
purged, that after all this has been, the believer has yet to go and 
be tormented in purgatory ; or the church whose ministers declare 
that if we are washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb we 
are so perfe(5l, so pure that the spotless eye of God, which sees flaws 
in the firmament and imperfe6lions in the angels, can see not a spot 
in us, but beholds us in Christ without spot or blemish, so that we 
sing praise to Him who loved us and washed us in his own blood 
and made us kings and priests unto God. Rev. 1:5,6. 

Hence when a good man dies we can not mourn, for we are as- 
sured he is taken away from the evil to come. John 17 : 15. 



44 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were 
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. II Cor. 5:1. 

6. The presumption of purgatory is matched by its cruelty. It 
is surprising that Romanists do not see in what a sorry light this in- 
famous presumption places pope and prelate. It has seemed terri- 
ble beyond description to think of inquisitors standing quietly by 
and witnessing the victiixi torn limb from limb, burned by slow fires 
or pressed to kiss the iron Virgin in her apartments in Nuremburg. 

Enter the vaulted chamber dug out of the living rock. The roof 
is formed of hewn stone. It contains an iron imao^e of the virg^in. 
On the opposite wall hangs a light which shows the instrument of 
torture. Touch a spring and the image throws open her arms, 
which resemble the doors of a cupboard and which are seen to be 
stuck full on the inside of poignards each about a foot in length. 
Some of these knives are "so placed as to enter the eyes of those 
whoin the image infolds in its embrace. Others are set so as to 
penetrate the ears and brain. Others pierce the breast, and others 
again gore the abdomen. 

"The person passes through the ordeal of the question chamber. 
He has believed in Christ and stood stoutly for his faith. He passes 
along the tortuous passage and is ushered into this vault. Before 
him is the iron virgin. He is compelled to approach the instru- 
ment of torture. The spring is touched. The virgin flings open 
her arms and clasps her victim and the soul escapes to God. An- 
other spring is touched. The body of the slain drops down the 
perpendicular shaft into the Pegnitz and is carried to the Rhine and 
by the Rhine to the ocean, there to sleep beside the dust of Huss and 
Jerome." That is terrible, but is nothing in comparison to the in- 
describable cruelty of a church that leaves souls to writhe and toss 
in purgatorial torture in order that money may be procured for 
masses sufiicient to satisfy the rapacity of this universal robber. 
The thought is horrible. Horrible because of what it does. 

Look at a Roman Catholic cemetery on an All Saints day. See 
the women and children lying on the ground, crying and wailing, in 
hopes of bringing the dead out of the fire, and priests working up 
the excitement, adding to the misery, the dread forebodings, the 
pitiless suff^erings, that money may be taken from the poor and the 
deluded for masses. Can there not be punishment for such barbarity ? 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 45 

Who does not remember with gratitude that when the French 
army entered Spain they reached the inquisitorial torture chamber 
and made the monk who had sent others to death, to walk the road 
and to die. See him, pale, trembling. He is not helped ; he is 
forced to drmk the cup of torture he has held to the lips of better 
men. If there is one place in hell hotter than another it seems to 
me that the pope will find it, who despite the gospel, the tracts, 
the Bibles, the religious press, puts the clamp on 300,000,000 of 
human vi(5lims and compels them to imagine that brothers, sisters, 
husbands, wives, children are in purgatory and could be got out if 
money be forthcoming. 

''We know that into outmost space 

Snatched sheer of earth the spirit goes 

Alone, stark silent ; but who knows 
The awful whitherward, the place 

Which never deepest piercing eye 

Had glimpse of, into which we die. 

Therefore I cleave v^ith simple trust, 
Amid my hopes, amid my fears 
Through the procession of my years. 

The years that bear me back to dust. 
And cry, "Ah Christ, if thou be nigh 
Strong in Thy strength I dare to die." 

— [Margaret J. Preston, Trust. 

Origen, carried on the wings of vain speculation, imagined that 
all, saint and sinner, prophet, martyr and confessor, even holy Mary 
herself, inust frv in unextinguished fire and torment, with less exalted 
mortals. That was to be at the general judgment, when the gold 
and silver was to come forth in its beauty, and the hay, wood and 
stubble was to be burned up. All alike must enter the trial ordeal, 
even her God-bearing ladyship can claim no exemption. The only 
exception is the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. The 
Hebrew purgatory had six days' suffering and the seventh a day of 
rest. The spirit was permitted to revisit the scenes of earth and 
then came deliverance. But Rome plunges all into the realm of 
purgatorial fire and keeps them there till priest and pope provide a 
way of escape. No wonder the early Christians resisted the error. 
The council of Aix La Chapelle in S36 decided in dire6l opposition 
to posthumous satisfaction or pardon. This synod maintains three 
ways of punishment — two in this life, one in the next. Sins in this 



46 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 

world are punished by repentance or compun6tion of the trans- 
gressor, and by the correction and chastisement of God. The third, 
after death, is tremendous and awful, when the judge shall say, 
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels." 

The fathers of the council knew nothing of purgatory and left no 
room for its expiation. But the ages grew dark. The v^ord of 
God w^as banished. The people were given up to ignorance and 
crime. Rome needed money. Then came purgatory and indul- 
gences. These went hand in hand. They go hand in hand now 
as much as in the days of Tetzel. Every mission held by Romanists 
is conducted with this end in view. They preach the doClrine of 
hell for all outside the church and purgatory for all inside, and then 
appeal to all who love departed friends to give money that they 
may be delivered. In the "Sincere Christian" by the Rev. Bishop 
Hay, a book purchased at Donahue's book store, is this language, 
page 369 : "What does our holy faith teach us concerning purga- 
tory?" "That after life, there is a middle state of suffering, to 
which the souls of those are condemned for a time, who though 
dying in the state of grace and friendship with God, yet have not 
fully satisfied the divine justice, for the debt of temporal punish- 
ment due for their smaller sins, or for their most grievous sins, 
whose guilt has been pardoned in the sacrament of penance or who 
die under the guilt of smaller sins or imperfeClions." Upon what 
ground is this dodlrine founded ? Upon the following : ' 'As the 
justice of God absolutely demands from sinners a reparation of the 
injury done to him by sin, by means of teinporal punishment to be 
undergone by them after the guilt of their mortal sins and the eternal 
punishment has been remitted and forgiven them ; and as this debt 
of temporal punishment has been remitted and forgiven them ; and 
as this debt of temporal punishment is increased by the venial sins 
they commit, which also being offensive to God, must be punished 
by the divine justice ; for God will render unto every man according 
to his works and of every idle word w^e speak an account will be 
demanded, hence it necessarily follows that there must be a state of 
temporal punishment after death, where all must go, who, dying in 
the state of grace, have not paid the debt before they die, and where 
they must remain in suffering till such time as they have fully paid 
it. This place cannot be in heaven, for in heaven there can be no 



PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRESUMPTION. 47 

suffering. It cannot be hell, for out of hell there can be no redemp- 
tion, and those who die in a state of grace cannot be condemned for- 
ever, therefore Rome claims it must be a middle place distin6l from 
both." But suppose there is no middle place? The word of God 
does not teach that there is one. For many of the errors of Rome, 
scripture is so tortured as to give them support. For transubstantia- 
tion, they quote and have the words to quote : "Whoso eateth my 
flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal li5e ; and I will raise him 
up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is 
drink indeed." It seems strange that they should become so foolish 
as to think the flesh and blood of the God-man could be enshrined 
in the thin wafer. It is surprising that they should ignore the truth, 
that Christ in a man becomes flesh and blood. He gives power, 
manliness and strength. A manly Christianity is the produdl of 
Christ welcomed to the soul. That produces manhood, secures in- 
tegrity, and sends out into the roadways of life, heroes for the strife. 
But for purgatory there is no scripture, no reason, nothing but one 
wild hunt for money through the aid of a brazen lie, coined in hell, 
and circulated by the aid of sycophants and time servers of the devil, 
throughout the world. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus Christ. 
He is the door to heaven. Either you are saved or not saved. In 
the Bible are only two places described beyond the grave, heaven 
and hell. There are only two vs^ays, the strait and the broad way. 
Only two classes, the righteous and the wicked. Only two charac- 
ters, those who are in Christ new creatures, and those who are in 
the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. 

To those who believe in Christ there is no condemnation. To 
those who reje6l him or negle6l him, there is wrath and the fore- 
bodings of despair. Purgatory is a colossal fraud. It is the mas- 
terpiece of presumption. Without conditions, without reservation, 
Christ plants the heel of his condemnation on the abhorrent false- 
hood, saying: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my 
word and believeth in Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and 
shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death unto 
life." Jesus said unto his friend : "Verily, I say unto thee, today 
thou shalt be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43. Said Paul: 
"I am in a strait betwixt two ; having a desire to depart and to be 
with Christ, which is far better." Phil, i : 23. Christ sums it all 
up in these words : "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; and 



48 PURGATORY THE MASTERPIECE OF PRF'iUMPTION. 

he that is righteous, let him be righteous still." Rev. 22:11. 
These passages show that a believer has nothing to fear while justi- 
fied by the righteousness of God, which is by faith. Impenitent 
sinners have nothing to hope for if they die in their sins. Heaven 
is opened to the believer's gaze. 

The new heaven is within range of the eye of faith. A voice 
sounds down saying : "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, 
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people and God 
himself shall be with them and be their God." No purgatory 
here. Listen. "And God shall wipe aw^ay all tears from their 
eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed 
away." 

Stephen saw the open door, and while stones v^ere bruising him, 
his face glowed in the light of God and he shcuted : "Lord Jesus, 
receive my spirit" and leaped out of night into the day. "There- 
fore w^e are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home 
in the body, we are absent from the Lord, and are w^illing to leave 
the body to be present with the Lord." II Cor. ^ :6, 7. For this 
reason, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." Rev. 14 : 13. 
Climb up to this fortress. Put the trumpet to thy lips and tell Ro- 
manists and everybody that Christ gives eternal life, and will keep 
all God puts into his hand. This is our hope. This is our abound- 
ing joy. 



HIGH AND LOW MASS, A ROARING 
FARCE. 



"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that 
they should believe a lie ; that they all might be damned who be- 
lieved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." II 
Thess. 2:11, 12. 

It is w^ith pain and intense sorrow of heart that the sacrifice of the 
mass, upon which Roman Catholics depend for salvation, is pro- 
nounced a roaring farce. This is said, not to wound the feelings of 
Roman Catholics, but, if possible, to open their eyes. It is because 
Romanists are imperilled by this masterpiece of priestly assumption, 
that attention is called to the manifest absurdity it presents, and to 
the utter rejection of the most positive commands of Almighty God 
it involves. Let us be fair. In Article V of Pope Pius' creed it is 
stated that " The mass is offered to God as a true, proper, and pro- 
pitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead." The council of Trent 
declares : "If any one shall say that in the mass there is not a true 
and proper sacrifice, offered unto God, or that, if it be offered, it is 
nothing else but for Christ to be given us to eat, let him be ac- 
cursed." 

It is Rome's declaration that the wafer becomes the Lord Jesus 
Christ, body, blood, bones, hair, mind and spirit. In the sacrifice 
of the mass, Roman Catholics claim to see Christ crucified and offered 
as their sacrifice for sin. In spite of the second commandment, 
which forbids idol worship, Romanists defy Almighty God and 
worship a cracker, converted, they say, by the words "Hoc est 
enim corpus meum," uttered by a priest, into the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Before this they burn incense and bow themselves in worship, claim- 
ing that Christ is not on the mediatorial throne, but present in the 
wafer, to be handled by them. This blasphemous burlesque and 
dangerous deceit is practiced by 300,000,000 of people who are 
ranked by some of our encyclopaedias and many of our so-called re- 

49 



50 HIGH AND LOW MASS. • 

ligious papers as a portion of the religious world. For this abhor- 
rent doctrine Romanists find their warrant, professedly, in the words 
of our Saviour, when he held the bread in his hand and said : '-This 
is my body." There was his body. There .was the bread. Roman- 
ists declare that the bread and the body were one and the same, while 
it is evident that Christ said : This bread symbolizes my body, 
which is to be broken for you. 

Romanists do not contend that Peter was a rock because of Christ's 
words, and yet they could do it with the same propriety as to take 
these words literally. Rome claims that upon consecration there is a 
conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of 
Christ's body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the sub- 
stance of Christ's blood, which conversion is usually called transub- 
stantiation. They then add the words of Christ: "Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
his blood, ye have no life in you," forgetting or ignoring the fa6l that 
Christ spoke within the apprehension of his disciples, who under- 
stood him to mean : ' ' This bread which I now break represents my 
body to be broken on the cross, and this wine I now pour out repre- 
sents my blood wdiich is to be shed on the tree." It is evident Paul 
cherished this view in his charge to the church in Corinth, which 
he censured because they drank wine — not blood but wine — to 
drunkenness. Despite this, Romanists see or declare they see in the 
consecrated wafer, the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, being offered 
as a sacrifice for sin. 

Contemplate the manifest absurdity. The word of God teaches 
that Christ was offered once when he offered up himself. (Heb. 
7 :37.) Rome offers in the sacrifice of the mass the Lord Jesus 
Christ millions and millions of times and in unnumbered places at the 
same time, if each one of these wafers is veritably a whole Christ, 
God-man, body, blood, bones and nei-ves. So far as the divine nature 
of Christ is concerned, this is possible, but as to his human nature it 
is utterly impossible. The divine, we know, can inhabit the human 
nature of Christ, but it cannot change the humanity into the God- 
head, any more than can the Deity be changed into humanity. 
Hence, the assumption of transubstantiation is absurd, for it implies 
the investiture of the human nature of Christ with divine attributes, 
even those of omnipresence and omniscience, a thing beyond possi- 
bility, even with God. An illustration of this absurdity recently 



HIGH AND LOW MASS. 5 1 

appeared. A poor Turk was brought by a Roman Catholic to Paris. 
He was given to the priests. They tried to convert him. They 
taught him the catechism, and, parrot-Hke,- he recited it. They got 
him to accept the sacrifice of the mass and he swallowed the wafer, 
which he was told was God. The next day the priest put him 
through his catechism, and among other questions asked: ''How 
many Gods are there?" " None." "Why, I told you there were 
three, the Father, Son and Spirit." "Yes, but you said they were 
all in the host that I ate, so there are none now." 

The logic of the Turk is better than the assumption of the Roman- 
ist. Let us not be deceived. God will not be mocked. For this 
seed-sowing there will be a hai*vest of almighty wrath, and yet this 
profanation of the truth is seen and gloried in wherever there is a 
Roman Catholic church. There incense is burned and offered to 
this cracker, moulded out of paste, over which the priest says : 
"Hoc est corpus meum." The incense is manufactured by placing 
a few coals in a crucible, on which something like resin is thrown, 
which emits a dark smoke, highly offensive both to the sense of 
smell and seeing. This he swings, smoking the cracker, the altar, 
the mass books, and if there be a bishop present he is enveloped in 
the cloud. "Is there," said William Hogan, "an honest and candid 
Roman Catholic who can witness this man-made, God-defying cere- 
mony without a blush of shame, nay, without a tear?" 

We answer that there are millions and millions now doing so, 
some of whom are intellectual, cultured and powerful. "And for 
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should 
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the 
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 

A friend writes : "Lay great stress on the fa6l that at Protestant 
funerals words of consolation and prayers are uttered in language 
which can be understood, which is calculated to carry consolation 
home to the hearts of the sui-vivors ; but mass is said in Latin, which 
costs money and does not console. Roman Catholics begin to see 
the ridiculousness of the whole business." 

There are high and low masses. The only difference in them is 
that incense and music are furnished with high mass, not with low. 
The ordinary price for a low mass is one dollar, though the dupe 
for whom it is offered may give what he chooses, but the price of a 
high mass varies from fifty to five hundred dollars or more. The 



52 HIGH AXD LOW MASS. 

reason for this difference in price is this : The parish priest, or the 
priest who is settled in the church in which the high mass is or- 
dered to be said, has the liberty of inviting as many priests as he 
may think proper or necessary to attend the solemn sen'ice rendered 
in the oblation of offering of the host. High masses are generally 
said for the dead for the purpose of delivering their souls from hell 
or purgatory, and as the settled or parish priest is supposed to be 
the best judge of what amount of prayer and number of priests will 
be necessar\- to deliver the soul of his departed parishioner from 
hell, he is allowed by the sui-viving friends of the deceased to use 
his own discretion as to the number of priests necessary for the 
purpose. 

Tliink of the possible misuse of this power. Man is all and in 
all. God is left out. Dr. Cote, of Montreal, tells of the wav he 
was dealt with. His mother died. The priest called for money 
for masses. It was given. He came the second time. He gave 
again. He came the third time, "Not out yet.''" A more expen- 
sive mass was required. He saw^ the transparent farce, turned the 
priest out doors and gave himself to Christ. The delusion of the 
priests is inexplainable. 

In Brooklyn there v^as an old man who belonged to the Scotch 
Presbvterian church, and he was taken to the hospital, where he was 
attended by a Catholic nurse, whom he married. Afterwards he 
died, and a priest sent for his widow and said her husband was in 
hell, and asked if she would not like him to get out. She said she 
would, and gave $ioo for mass for that purpose. But the priest 
went to her again, and said it would require more money and an- 
other mass to get him out. The bishop asked her if she could give 
another $ioo, and she replied. Yes. Then they asked if she had 
anv other relatives who were dead, and when she said she had, thcv 
told her to write them on pieces of paper and they would shake 
them all up, and her husband would slip out with the rest. 

We read with feelings of pity the story of the prophets of Baal 
confronting God's prophet, and trying in vain to bring down fire 
from their god out of hea\en. They seemed to believe in their power. 
Their contortions, shoutings, and demoniac manifestations are more 
than matched whenever a company of priests gathers to perform 
high mass. Their bowlings, their frightful gestures, obvious to 
every beholder, prove them to be destitute of faith in the living 



HIGH AND LOW MASS. 55. 

God. The question is being raised : Ought not something to be 
done to check this popish idolatry ? Is there anything more dark, 
dismal and frightful in the death song s of the Indian, than there is 
in the popish song, or chant, as they ter m it, during this performance 
of high mass? Did ever an Indian chief look more ludicrously 
solemn, or was he more fantastically dressed, than the Romish priest 
who presides at the celebration of this mass? Did he ever emit 
from his lungs more lugubrious tones or unmeaning sounds, for the 
edification of the braves and squaws of his tribe, during the per- 
formance of the most solemn death songs, than a Romish priest does 
in the worship of the host? 

The country was horrified b3- a terrible tale of panic-stricken 
Indians on the Colorado river. A strange disease had attacked the 
wild, uncouth, unkempt Mojave Indians, located near the eastern 
end of San Bernardino county, Cal. Sacrifices of dogs and burros 
were given to appease the anger of the Great Father. This prov- 
ing of no avail, a council was held. Ever}- brave of the tribe was 
present. The medicine men sat around a huge pot which was 
filled with herbs, while the braves were squatted in a semi-circle 
some distance away. The medicine men watched the steaming of 
the herbs until the mess had been boiled down to a teaspoonful of 
liquid. Then a male pigeon and his mate were taken from a basket: 
and held by the medicine men, while the liquid from the herbs was 
poured down their throats. The male bird when released flew 
away. The female flew a few yards and fell down dead. This, 
test determined the sex of the witch. The medicine men now 
seemed craze^H^ with excitement. They leaped to their feet and 
danced, while the braves sat in sullen silence. They then declared 
that a witch was in their tribe. Each brave suspected another of 
harboring the witch. But a final test was to be made. With veils 
and imprecations, the frenzied reds drove their women to the place 
where the council had been held, and where the pigeon lav dead. 
The squaws were driven in single file, with the medicine men 
watching with nervous excitement the face of each as she passed 
the bird. Finally, a young squaw stepped out of the ranks and- 
was about to pick up the bird, when the medicine men, with loud 
yells, seized the girl and pinioned her arms. The unfortunate 
squaw pleaded piteously for her life, but her cries were of no avail. 
The death of the female pigeon was conclusive evidence that a squaw- 



54 HIGH AND LOW MASS. 

was the witch. The first to touch the bird was the fatal test of 
guilt. The poor girl, but eighteen years old, was stripped of her 
clothes and tied to a stake, and a slow fire was built under her. For 
two hours she lingered in awful agony, and, while her death scream 
filled the air, the braves danced about the fire and the medicine men 
muttered incantations. When morning came, nothing but the bones 
of the girl and the black embers of the fire remained about the stake. 

The disease from which so many of the Mojave Indians died was 
believed to be typhoid fever. It was in the summer of 1887, I stood 
among the Alojave Indians. A sorry-looking lot they were. Men 
praised them for their docility. But they are pagans. Are they 
worse than Romanists? They burned the girl to save tlieir tribe. 
Romanists have destroyed myriads to compel the worship of a 
cracker god. Think of an English girl being whipped, locked up 
in prison, fed on bread and water, brought out, whipped again, and 
finally, because she would not call the cracker god an object worthy 
of worship, compelled to sit down in a chair and have her foot 
stripped and placed in a red-hot shoe and burned ofi^ Which do 
you prefer, the Indians or the Romanists ? Enter the inquisitorial 
chamber. Because a man refuses to become an idolater, he is com- 
pelled to kiss the Virgin. The kiss touches a spring and lets loose 
a hundred knives which cut and kill, and priests look on in sweet 
content, fancying they are serving the church. 

I. Calling this idolatry devotion to Christ is a far ce^ because 
it lacks the first semblance of true worship. True it is : High 
money, high mass ; low money, low mass ; no money, no mass. This 
is about the size of it. Remember that this cracker god is man-made, 
and do not forget that this worship is in direct violation of the second 
commandment, fulminated amid the thunderings and lightnings of 
Sinai ; but that Rome may be consistent she destroys the command, 
and, like the ostrich, thinks there is no danger because she sees 
none. The entire design of the Lord's supper is changed. From 
having it observed in remembrance of Christ, it is made a saving 
ordinance ; and for the beautiful formula instituted by our Lord, 
Rome has substituted a number of prayers and forms unknown in 
scripture, unheard of in the ancient church, and utterly inconsistent 
with one another. Think of this prayer: "Receive, O blessed 
Trinity, this oblation which we ofTer thee in memory of the passion, 
resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord, and in honor 



HIGH AND LOW MASS. 55 

of the blessed Mary, ever a virgin, and of the blessed John the Bap- 
tist, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of these and all 
the saints, that it may advance their honor and our salvation, and 
they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in heaven, whose memory 
we preserve on earth through the same Christ our Lord." Thus are 
Mary, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, and all the saints, exalted 
to be mediators for the souls of men, as if Christ needed help to 
accomplish his divine purpose. Linked with these prayers are in- 
cense offering, music, contortions, stretching out the arms, lifting 
up the hands, making signs of the cross from the forehead to the 
breast. For none of this is there a scripture warrant. In it there is 
no faith in God, no uncovering of the cross, no holding up of Jesus 
Christ that men might be drawn unto him ; but from beginning to 
end one wild and roaring farce, dishonoring to the intelligence of 
man, repulsive to decency, and blasphemous towards the one medi- 
ator between God and man, seated on his throne at the right hand 
of the Father, the propitiation for our sins, the hope of our salvation, 
and the joy of our souls. 

2. The sacrainent of the inass is a farce., for it is an utter fer- 
version of scripture. Christ took the bread and broke it, and gave it 
to the disciples, saying : " Take, eat ; this is my body which is broken 
for you; this do in remembrance of me." I Cor. ii : 24. The 
priest takes the wafer with both his hands, between his forefingers and 
thumbs, and says : "Hoc est enim corpus meum" — For this is my 
body. Having finished the words, he kneels down and adores the 
consecrated cracker, calls it the God- man, and demands that the 
people give it worship. 

Christ took the cup and said : ' ' This cup is the new testament 
in my blood, which is shed for you." Luke 23 : 20. The priest 
takes the chalice, holds it in his left hand, and makes the sign of the 
cross, to keep off' the powers of darkness and frighten away the evil 
spirits from what they are taught to believe is the body and blood of 
our Lord — as if the devil over whom he triumphed could overcome 
him. Away with such blasphemy, said Priest Hogan. 

After the blessing of the chalice the priest refuses to allow the 
laity to taste of it. For some reason, very early after the Roman 
Catholic church became an organization, they attempted to withdraw 
the bread from the laity. In 693 the i6th Council of Toledo resisted 
the movement, and brought foi-ward the scripture which shows that 



56 HIGH AND LOW MASS. 

our Lord made use of a whole loaf. Christ gave the wine to his 
disciples and told them to drink of it. The priest drinks it himself, 
and refuses to allow the laity to touch it. Christ said: "Eat the 
bread." The priest commands the mouth to be opened, the tongue 
to be run out ; on it is placed the cracker god, and the suppliant must 
swallow as best he can. Our Lord does not treat worshippers like 
slaves, as doe^ the priest. Christ says, Take it ; the priest says, 
You cannot touch it. 

But it is evident the primitive church understood it in no such 
sense. It was not always thus. Gelasius, bishop of Rome, in the 
fifth century, spoke in the strongest language against those who 
took the bread and neglected the vs^ine. His expression was : 
"Such is a dividing line of one and the same sacrament, which 
cannot be done without sacrilege." 

Come back to the offering and listen to the prayer: "We, as 
supplicants, beseech thee, O Omnipotent God, to command that 
these things [namely, the oblation of vv^hat the church calls the 
body and the blood of Christ ] may be conveyed by the hands of 
Thy holy angel to Thine altar on high, in the sight of Thy Divine 
Majesty, that as many of us [ he here kisses the altar ] as shall 
have taken by the justification of this altar of the most sacred body 
and blood of Thy Son [he joins his hands and makes the sign of 
the cross once upon the host, and once upon the chalice, then 
crosses himself] may be filled with all heavenly blessing and grace 
through the same Christ our Lord." 

Christ said : "It is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not 
away, the comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I v^ill 
send him unto you." "And w^hen he had spoken these things, while 
they beheld, he was taken up ; and a cloud received him out of their 
sisrht." "Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitu- 

o 

tion of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his 
holv prophets, since the world began." There he is. Priests de- 
clare he is at their bidding and control. Millions and millions of 
wafer gods have been made in the years past. Where are they.^* 
What has become of them ? Each wafer was as separate and distinct 
from every other as was and is each one separate and distinct from 
•Christ in the heavens, at the right hand of the Father. These wa- 
fers have each a different history. Some were made from flour 
grown in one country and some from flour g^rown in another coun- 



HIGH AND LOW MASS, 57 

try ; different parties made them, and water from different places 
moistened the flour ; but at a certain point, Rome claims, they all 
ceased to be what they once were, and each is now a real Christ. 
But as a million cannot be one and one, a million, in one and the 
same time, what is the inference? Why, instead of there being but 
one Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, they have 
millions. Lose not the thought. Rome declares each wafer after 
consecration a real Christ, God-man, soul and body, and there are 
therefore a million true and living Christs on the earth, while mil- 
lions have passed away or been annihilated. Can absurdity go 
farther? Can truth fare worse? 

J . Papalis77i in the ivorship of the mass stultijies the reaso7z and 
substitutes a fa7'ce for truth. Think of the wafers held by priests, 
carried in the pockets of their creators while under the influence of 
wine or strong drink. Accidents befall them ; they drop into filth 
and are left there. No matter, they have been consecrated ; they 
are now so many Christs, each one a God, and therefore should 
think and feel ; aye, think and feel with more than human 
power. How is it, then, that they evince no property of thought or 
power of life ? As Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal, we might 
taunt the priests. Call to them, they move not. An animal may 
run away with one and even eat it, and yet there is no power shown 
in any of them to protect themselves. A recent writer describes a 
scene which occurred when a Roman Catholic church was on fire. 
The holy sacrament had to be carried away at midnight to a place 
of safety. In these words the priest moralizes : "The presence of 
Almighty God, accompanied by a few monks and illuminated by 
the splendor of the furious conflagration that threatened to destroy 
his holy tabernacle, was a deeply afiecting sight ; religion multi- 
plied the terrors of the scene. All were in tears, for it seemed as 
if, in this transit of God himself as a fugitive from peril, all hope of 
rescue was taken away." How any one who has within his reach 
a Bible can use this language is a mystery. Imagine, if you can. 
Almighty God dependent upon a few monks, and that, left to him- 
self, he must have perished, as did a similar cracker god perish 
when eaten by a rat. Can it be anything less than a roaring farce 
which countenances such blasphemy in the name of religion ? Is it 
not time that — in the name of God, so dishonored and blasphemed, 
of the Christianity so misrepresented and deformed, and of our 



^8 HIGH AYD LOW MASS. 

common humanity, so misled and degraded by this wafer-godism — 
a protest be raised ; and that, with indignant emphasis, the 
church which holds and teaches an absurdity so great be declared 
unworthy the name of Christian, and be relegated to the paganism 
of the past, and be made to rank among the stupendous delusions 
of the present? Christ warned against the conduct of Roman 
Catholics, saying : "If any man shall say, Lo, here is Christ, or Lo 
there, believe it not." Matt. 24 :23. 

4. Turning the 'worship of our Lord Jesus Christ into a farce 
does injury to theperfortner and worshipper. 

How Romanism has brutalized Romanists everywhere ! The 
^vorship of the wafer has been attended by cruelty through all the 
centuries. 

Think of a bi'ight young physician, educated in England, going 
back to Italy and finding a dying woman in distress because of her 
sins. She is without hope, though a Romanist. He points her to 
Christ, who so loved the world as to die for her. He opens John 
I :ii-i3 and reads : "He came unto his own, and his own received 
him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to 
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, 
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of 
the will of man, but of God." It was a ray of light penetrating the 
night of superstition. She accepted Christ and was saved. The 
priest came to give her extreme unction. She refused it, saying, 
"I have found Christ." In the delirium of her joy she told of the 
kindness and fidelity of her physician. He was arrested and was 
asked: "Dost thou believe that after the sacramental words have 
been pronounced by the priest at the mass — 'Hoc est corpus 
meum' — the body of Christ is truly present in the host?" He an- 
swered no. Inquisitorial torture follows naturally. 

What answer would you make ? Would you not reply : "Christ's 
body is in heaven, whither he hath ascended to sit upon the right 
hand of God. And the pope and all his cardinals could not bring 
him down, until he comes to judge the quick and the dead. Yet I 
believe in his presence to all his faithful people." This may become 
an American experience. It would be here now if Rome had the 
power. 

Millions have suffered this or similar torture for this cause. Ro- 
man Catholics, look at this wafer. It is a bit of paste, of flour and 



HIGH AND LOW MASS. 59 

water baked. Carry it as carefully as you can and it breaks in 
pieces. Contrast it with our Christ. See him coming from Naz- 
areth to Jordan to be baptized. Pass with him through the crowd 
that parts for him, awed by his face and his look, through which the 
light of God shines. Follow him to the wilderness. The ruler of 
this world draws near. Christ in our stead fights our enemy, 
breaks his power, baffles his will. Then see him coming to men, 
in love, bidding them to follow him, and drawing them with a 
power they never knew before. A woman presses through the 
crowd and touches the hem of his garment. He turns. His eye 
rests on her as he says to the trembling soul : "According to your 
faith be it unto you." Go with him to Jerusalem and listen to the 
hosannahs of the multitude. Go to Gethsemane. He drinks the 
cup of the world's woe, that the cup may not come to us. Then 
push on to the judgment hall. Betrayal hurts him not. The cross 
does not daunt him. He dies that we may live. He is buried. 
He rises again. Now he ascends on high, leading captivity cap- 
tive. A cloud receives him out of their sight. The gates of 
heaven are lifted. The King of Glory enters in. He takes his 
seat upon the mediatorial throne amid the ascriptions of praise from 
a multitude no man can number. The disciples saw him go toward 
heaven. Then came the two in white apparel and said : "Ye men 
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven.^ This same Jesus 
which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like man- 
ner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Then they returned to 
pray. 

After it came the day of Pentecost, and the new power, in 
the person of the Holy Ghost, broke upon the world. That power 
is here now. Let us believe it. Romanists need it, all need it ; 
all can have it. 

This worship of the cracker god is the height of impiety, the 
apple of the eye of the Romish system ; touch it, and she shrieks 
and howls with anger. Today millions are bowing to it and are 
disobeying God. It is the source of incredible corruption. The 
mass and its abettors — Puseyites, papists, infidels and luke warm" 
Protestants — are in opposition to the holiest practices of the Chris- 
tian belief. In it there is nothing to expand the soul. It changes 
the believer into worse than a cannibal, compelling him to eat the 
God he worships, and fastens him to the Juggernaut car of a terri- 



6o HIGH AND LOW MASS. 

ble idolatry. ^'And for this cause God shall send them strong de- 
lusion, that they should believe a lie ; that all might be damned who 
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Cod 
-forefend the people of America from this terrible calamity. 



''Jt is therefore a holy and wholemme thought to yray for the dead, that they 
may be loosed from .sm6-." 2 Mach xii, 4(). 

^^8«avatiM 9f the mkUi . 




Sht o0eUn^ o/ the JduSA /a/^ ?fe itp/o6e of 
ihe ^ouU of 






U ttqueMed b^ 



FAC SIMILE OF PRINTED APPEAL. 



MementD for 
ALL SDULS' DAY 



FAC SIMILE OF ENVELOPE. 




CARDINAL JAMES GIBBONS. 
Born in Baltimore, July 23, 1834. 



HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMANISTS 
BY THE AID OF A CARDINAL. 



"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
pomt, he is guilty of all." James 2 :io. 

False in one thing, false in all, is the law of the word of God. 
"For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one 
point, he is guilty of all." This principle rules in business more 
than in religion. It ought to rule in religion more than in busi- 
ness. It does not. Men will tolerate misstatements in regard to 
theological distinctions who would scorn to apologize for a mer- 
chant whose word was not as good as his bond. Hence the charge 
that Cardinal Gibbons, the prince of the Roman Catholic church in 
the United States, is guilty of misrepresentation, will not create 
the surprise or produce the shock in the moral world which should 
result from such a statement. For honor, for truthfulness, for 
purity and square dealing, the representatives of the Roman Cath- 
olic church rate low. There is a reason for it. To this, attention 
should be called before it is too late. 

Roman Catholics claim to be a portion of the religious world. 
More than that, worse than that, they claim to be the religious 
world and to possess all the virtues ; when truth compels the ad- 
mission that as a system of faith Romanism is built on a lie and can 
only be served wisely and well by those ready to surrender the truth 
and resort to misrepresentation as a trade. To announce that a 
man has been made a cardinal should be another way of saying that 
the champion liar has reached the goal. It is when we confront 
this fact that we are made acquainted with our peril as a people 
and a nation. Misrepresentation is a terrible word, when associated 
with a man occupying in public regard the position assigned by 
common consent to Cardinal Gibbons. He ranks with the highest. 
The president of the United States finds it for his advantage to lock 
arms with the red robed potentate to lay the corner stone of the 

65 



66 CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

Jesuit university. When the centennial of the adoption of the con- 
stitution was observed in Philadelphia, the gentlemen w^ho had the 
celebration in charge invited Cardinal Gibbons to make the prayer 
and telegraphed the words he mouthed all over the world. No 
matter how insolent was his bearing, though he ignored a Wither- 
spoon, a descendent of one of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and disturbed the solemnities of the service by coming 
in late that he might get to himself fame and prestige, it was all 
borne because the shameless deed was performed by the prince of 
the Roman Catholic church. When will American citizens learn 
to respedl themselves and treat Romanists as they treat others.'* 
Today we tolerate boorishness in priests, infamies in bishops and 
insults from cardinals as though they were absolved from the de- 
cencies of civilization and were licensed to trample on the morali- 
ties and virtues which appertain to life. The American people owe 
it to themselves to insist on priests and the higher dignitaries of 
the Romish church being judged by the standards which determine 
the charadler of other men, occupying professedly the same posi- 
tion. If a minister be kept out of a pulpit because he is untrue or 
unchaste, a priest should for similar reasons be denied access to 
the altar. If a distinguished Protestant clergyman must measure 
up to the requirements of his great reputation or be set aside, there 
are no good reasons why a cardinal in the Roman Catholic church 
should be excused from adling the gentleman. 

JAMES, CARDINAL GIBBONS, 

represents in his origin and surroundings the typical Romanist. 
Born of Irish parents, July 23, 1834, in Baltimore, receiving his 
early education in the Roman Catholic schools of Ireland, he re- 
turned to the United States and graduated from St. Charles college, 
Howard Co., Md., in 1857. -^^ then studied theology in St. 
Mary's seminary, Baltimore, and was ordained a priest at the open- 
ing of the great civil war in Baltimore, and began his career in a 
small church in that city, where his trickery and cunning soon at- 
tracted public attention and led to his advancement. He is hand- 
some in appearance, courteous in language ; a born Jesuit, capable 
.of being all things to all men. It would not be difficult to imagine 
liim in a school board working with Protestants, nominally for 
their interests, but really for the advancement of the church he 
loves and serves. In political matters he understands how to pre- 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 6*] 

tend to be what he is not and how to be just what he pretends not 
to be. 

In the book before us he plays the part of the pet tiger. He 
fondles and coquettes. Hear him. His chief aim, he says, is to 
bring home his appeal to "our" separated brethren who generally 
accept the scripture as the only source of authority in religious 
matters, and for this reason he claims to have endeavored to fortify 
his statements by abundant reference to the sacred text. 

Like the pet tiger brought up in the parlor, when brought in 
contact with fresh blood on his master's hand which avi^oke the 
wild beast and caused him to spring upon him, the cardinal, though 
he begins like a cooing dove, before he is done reveals his true 
nature and proves himself a lineal descendent of the great deceiver. 
In the book, truth is treated as a plaything and error is stock in 
trade. Misrepresentations are made as if they were susceptible of 
being proven to be true, when he knows that a moment's reflection 
or a glance at the teachings of the word of God would declare him 
guilty of brazen falsehood and unblushing deception. This is a 
terrible statement to be made. It will not harm a Romanist, for 
nothing better is expected by the average American. It would ruin 
anybody else, if the statement could be substantiated. It ought to 
ruin regard for a Romanist. The trouble with the book is not dif- 
ferent from that which exists and is seen in the Roman Catholic 
church. Truth is used to sugar coat error. The word of God is 
tortured to sustain the false deductions of the priest. It is done 
well and warily so as to deceive, if possible, the very eledl. It is 
time that attention was called to the trick and the people put on 
their guard so that they may not be deluded and destroyed. Rome 
no longer works in the inquisition as in the days of Torquemadez. 
She trains in the political world as a patriot, in the newspaper as 
a liberal, in the church as a saint. 

In every place she has a heart fully set in her to do evil and that 
continually. Cardinal Gibbons, by his craft and cunning, has been 
chosen to represent this church given up to idolatry, to the diffusion 
of error and the rejection of the truth. He is at home in it and an 
exponent of it. Because of this feature in his charad:er, he was 
sent to North Carolina as bishop, and afterwards to Richmond, Va. 
In both places he won distinction as the ally of the impoverished 
aristocracy, climbing to power because of their determination to 



68 CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

fight social equality and the recognition of the manhood of the 
negro ; and yet the church of Rome poses as the friend of the black 
man, when it is known that fro.n popo down all tried to keep him 
in slavery. In iS 77, he became coadjutor of Archbishop Boyley 
of Baltimore, and upon his death became his successor. Bakimore 
is the Rome of America. The archbishop of Baltimore ranks high. 
There was Kenrick, the teacher of all that is infamous in theology, 
as is shown in "Washington in the lap of Rome." 

Then came Gibbons, the author of "The faith of our fathers." 
It is the utterances contained in the thirty-second edition of this 
carefully revised book to which attention is called. 

The claim is put forth that it has led thousands into the church 
of Rome. The greater the need of uncovering the lie and making 
manifest the misrepresentations of the distinguished deceiver. 

I. The word misrepresentation implies malice. It denotes 
a purpose to deceive in order that an ultimate purpose be subserved. 
It is not a mistake or an accident, but a deception. Can it be 
possible that a man like Cardinal Gibbons can afford to cut loose 
from honesty, truthfulness and public confidence, for the sake of 
any interest that may lie near his heart? 

Another and a deeper question must be asked. Can it be possible 
that Cardinal Gibbons must first be a deceiver before he could be a 
cardinal, must consent to be false that he may serve the falsehood 
he is compelled to champion? As was said: No lie, no pope ; no 
lie, no cardinal ; no lie, no Roman Catholic church. If the people 
could see this truth in its true light, there would be such a revulsion 
of feeling as would sweep this conspiracy against pure and undefiled 
religion out of the world. Consider a few fa6ls, which will make 
this statement apparent to the dullest comprehension. 

If Cardinal Gibbons is not a full fledged Jesuit, he is their mouth- 
piece, their protector, their director. 

Have the American people a conception of what that charge im- 
plies ? 

It declares that the highest ofiicial of the Roman Catholic church 
in the United States will deliberately build a false fire on the rock- 
Ibound coast to lure navigators on life's sea to ruin. He lures to 
Tbewilder, he dazzles to blind. 

He begins with "My dear reader," and starts by throwing sus- 
jilcion upon honest men who have proclaimed the truth. 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 69 

He says : "The Catholic church is persistently misrepresented by 
the most powerful vehicles of information." 

The truth is that the most powerful vehicles of information are 
unwilling to tell the plain truth concerning Romanism. Even 
Bob IngersoU calls her the oldest Christian church. She is but a 
counterfeit and should be known as The painted whore of Baby- 
lon. IngersoU knows it. Romanists are unwilling to have the 
truth told. They will not support a paper that tells the truth and 
insist on doing all in their power to hinder and fetter the truth when 
told. He says : "In a large portion of the press, and in pamphlets 
and especially in the pulpit, w^iich shoukl be consecrated to truth 
and charity, she is the vi6lim of the foulest slanders." 

This misrepresentation needs not a refutation. The press and 
the pulpit have been padlocked to an extent to bring the blush 
of shame to the cheek of every honest, truth-loving citizen, whose 
eyes have been opened to the peril which environs us. 

He says that ministers are afraid to tell the truth about Ro- 
manism. It is the truth that damns Romanism. It is the truth 
concerning Romanism which cannot be told. It is too vile, too 
horrid, too polluting and too degrading. He says : 

" ' Truth has such a face and such a mein 
As to be loved needs only to be seen.' " 

That depends ! Truth concerning brothels, or priests in con- 
fessionals polluting with questions the minds of women, or in con- 
vents assaulting helpless girls, has no such mien and needs only to 
be seen to be dreaded and despised. 

In this dialogue between a Prote stant minister and a convert to 
the Roman Catholic church, we obtain a good glimpse of the in- 
sidiousness of the Jesuit and of the dishonesty of the man. He 
says, p. 12. : 

Minister: "You cannot deny that the Roman Catholic church 
teaches gross errors — the worship of images, for instance." 

Convert: "I admit no such charge, for I have been taught no 
such doctrines." 

^Minister : "But the priest who instructed you did not teach 
you all. He held back some points which he knew would 
be objectionable to you." 

Convert: "He withheld nothing; for I am in possession of 
iDOoks treating fully of all Catholic doctrines." 



70 CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

Minister : "Deluded soul ! Don't you know that in Europe they 
are taught differently?" 

Convert: "That cannot be, for the church teaches the same 
creed all over the world, and most of the doctrinal books which I 
read were originally published in Europe.'' 

Behold the deceiver and his misrepresentation. The intimation 
here is, that the Roman Catholic church does not approve of im- 
age worship ; at least, does not teach it. Indeed, Cardinal Gibbons 
calls this a slanderous statement and claims to feel indisrnant be- 
cause it is made. He says, "We cannot exaggerate the offense of 
diose who thus wilfully malign the church." 

"False in one, false in all" is a legal maxim. Let us apply it and 
prove the cardinal a liar. The council of Trent, which is the 
highest authority in the Roman Catholic church, has declared 
thus : 

"It is lawful to represent God and the Holy Trinity by images, 
and that the images and relics of Christ and the saints are to be duly 
honored, venerated or worshipped ; and that in this veneration and 
worship, those are venerated which are represented by them." In 
the creed of Pope Pius IV, we find the followmg paragraph : 

"I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the Mother of 
God, ever virgin, and also of other saints are to be had and retained 
and that due honor and veneration are to be given to them." Can 
there be a misrepresentation made more glaring than this ? Be- 
cause of the adoption of image worship the Douay version either 
omits or explains away the second commandment and in some ver- 
sions drops it from the decalogue and divides another commandment 
into two, to make the number ten. It is nothing in his estimation 
that God says in Ex. 20 : 4, 5, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any 
graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or 
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth ; 
thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them." Images 
are worshipped by Romanists as if there were good reason for the 
custom, and Cardinal Gibbons declares by inference that the Roman 
Catholic church does not san6lion image worship. In that state- 
ment he not only utters an untruth, but like a real Jesuit ignores 
the positive teachings of the church that he may deceive the Amer- 
ican people. Men say. Is not Cardinal Gibbons an authority and 
does he not say that images are not worshipped ? Learn the truth. 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 7 1 

Rome teaches image worship and thus provokes the curse found in 
Deut. 27 ; 15 : "Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or 
molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands 
of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place." 

Paul says, I Cor. lo : 14, "My dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,'* 
and in I John 5:21 we find the command, "Keep yourselves from 
idols." Image worship began in the fourth century and has ever 
been a feature in Roman Catholic worship. In Spain fortunes in 
jewelry and money are hung upon the images of the Virgin Mary ; 
millions of money are thus wasted. They have images that sweat 
blood, images of the Virgin that are made to wink by machinery, 
before which the superstitious bend in glad homage ; and yet Cardinal 
Gibbons by intimation declares that images are not worshipped by 
Romanists. 

2. Cardinal Gibbons' training as a Jesuit makes it praise- worthy 
for him to deceive, if possible, the very elexft. 

The order of Jesuits is composed of four classes — novices, scho- 
lastics, coadjutors and professed Jesuits. The first class are the 
camp followers, the most serviceable to the order, yet the most 
mischievous and dangerous to the truth. They are chosen from 
every rank and profession — physicians, lawyers, monthly nurses, 
school masters, mistresses, sei-vants and policemen. In fadl, any 
Romanist of wealth, better still of zeal and ability, is welcome to 
enter the novitiate. 

The second class consists of men who, having served their proba- 
tion as novices, became scholastics, and as such study rhetoric for 
two years ; philosophy, physics and mathematics for three ; and 
theology for four or six years; 

The third class consists partly of priests and partly of laymen, 
who, though as clergy high in rank, or laity distinguished by their 
professions, are bound by a vow to enter into the order of Jesuits 
whenever any particular emergency requires all the ability, genius 
and energy of Romanism to be concentrated into one well disciplined 
host, with one definite aim and under one general of approved 
energy and subtlety. There is scarcely a city or town in which 
there are not some of this dangerous class of men to be found. The 
coadjutor; assumes the three vows of a monk and promises special 
attention to the instru6lion of youth. Herein lies our peril. The 
children of Roman Catholics are being taken out of the public 



72 CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

schools in which are trained teachers who are compelled to pass an 
examination and are familiar with requirements of the interests of a 
higher education, and are committed to the keeping of religious 
brothers and nuns who are not examined and who sei^ve the church, 
tr^-ing to train the youth to become good Catholics, and utterly ignore 
the demands of their immortal natures or their intellectual advance- 
ment. Here is the battle line of the hour. 

The fourth class consists of professed Jesuits, to whom is in- 
trusted the most important affairs of the order. The care taken in 
admitting a member to this class shows us the desperate character 
of the men who compose it. First he must go into a retreat, that 
is a house containing many cells, each being so constructed as to 
seclude the novice in all the horrors of solitary confinement. The 
door and windows are closed except when a gleam of light is re- 
quired for the purpose of reading and taking food. A chapel is 
close at hand in which mass is said. Three times a day he must 
sift his conscience and each time report minutely its state to his 
director, certain penances and austerities being observed in the 
meantime. Fasting, denial of sleep, lying on iron bars, wearing a 
hair shirt and a free use of the scourge must be had recourse to. 

He must w^ork himself up late at night to such a pitch of frenzy 
as in imagination to see the vast fires of hell and the souls of the 
damned undergoing their tremendous agonies ; he must also hear 
their wailings and gnashing of teeth ; he must also realize in imag- 
ination the stench of the brimstone and of those who are burning 
therein. So much for the first week. 

During the second week he must see in imagination, as in a pan- 
orama, the chief events in the life of Mary. He must see her sit- 
ting on a she ass with Joseph, and a poor maid servant on an ox, 
setting out for Bethlehem that they may pay the tribute money. 
Then he is required to form some idea of this journey. The first 
of these meditations must be at midnight, the second at dawn, the 
third about the hour of mass, the fourth at vespers, the fifth im- 
mediately before supper. An hour, more or less, must be employed 
on each so as to develop at each exercise all the five senses of the 
imagination. 

The third week he reviews all the incidents of the Saviour's 
crucifixion ; yet contriving to make it as little useful as possible to 
the soul, by fixing the five senses upon the sort of road which the 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 73 

Saviour travelled — whether rough or smooth, crooked or straight, 
short or long ; and the kind of chamber in which he took his last 
supper — whether wide or narrow, plain or adorned, together with 
the nature of the Garden of Gethsemane. In all this there is no 
provision made for a change of life or for furnishing a welcome in 
the heart for the reception of Jesus Christ, "who is the power of 
God unto salvcition, to everyone that believcth," "who are born not 
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
God." The fourth week is devoted to meditations upon the resur- 
rection of Christ. The window of the cell is then thrown widely 
open and the concealed flowers and fragrant shrubs are revealed to 
the aching eyes of the novice and he is called upon to rejoice in his 
Creator and Redeemer. Relief from pain, rather than repentance 
of sin ; rest of body, rather than joy in believing and peace that 
passeth knowledge, are the evidence by which it is known that a 
Romanist is fitted for his work. He knows nothing of the rest born 
of faith in Christ. The words "Come unto me, ye that are weary 
and heavy laden," seem not to be written for him. Let us tell them 
to come out of their retreats into the fellowship of Christ. "What 
saith it? The w^ord is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart ; 
the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy 
mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in th}^ heart that God hath 
raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved." Rom. lo : 8, 9. 

The second trial compels the novice to spend one month in a 
hospital in attendance upon the sick. This would not hurt any of 
us. The third puts his humility and disregard of public opinion to 
the test by compelling him to beg from door to door for support for 
one month. Many of us have to do as mortifying work. The 
fourth tests his perfect submission to authority, for during another 
month, no matter w^hat his rank, he must act a scullion in the 
kitchen of the seminary and the cook is diredled to try his temper 
and obedience by every imaginable insolence. In the fifth test, he 
must prove his skill in perverting education by teaching children 
and poor people the Jesuit doctrines. The sixth and crowning trial 
tests very severely his ability and eloquence as a preacher and his 
powers of insinuation and adroitness as a confessor. The Jesuit 
does this for heaven. The Christian does his w^ork because Christ 
is born within him the hope of glory and becomes the impelling 
force. Before the sacrament he takes the oath in wdiich he declares 



74 CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

that the pope hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, 
commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his 
sacred confirmation, and that they may safely be destroyed. 

He renounces and disowns any allegiance as due to any heretical 
king, prince or state named Protestant, or obedience to any of 
their inferior magistrates or officers. He declares all Protestants 
damned and promises to help extirpate Protestant doctrine. By 
such acls and by such an oath they become fitted to crush out the 
finer feelings of the human breast, and to commit the foulest crimes 
recorded on the pages of history, or to utter untruths or to roll 
them as a sweet morsel under their tongue. 

Can the presidsnt of the United States afford to sanction such trea- 
son or companion with such traitors? Americans must answer the 
question for him, if he does not know enough and is not true 
enough to answer it for himself. 

The Jesuits' secret instructions enjoin upon them to asso- 
ciate with all strangers, heretical as well as Christian Catholic ; if 
heretical, to be civil and not to discover their profession. To deceive 
they are permitted to wear what dress or habit they find advan- 
tageous. They can attend heretical meetings, assume the garb of an 
evangelical minister and do anything to keep themselves from sus- 
picion, while by this process they gain information helpful to the 
mother church. These are the instructions : 

"If you own yourselves clergymen, then to preach, but with 
caution, till ye be well acquainted with those heretics you converse 
with, and then by degrees add to your doctrine by ceremonies or 
otherwise as you find them inclinable. If ye be known by any of the 
lay Catholics you are to pacify them by saying secret mass unto 
them or by acquainting other priests (who are not able to under- 
take this work) with your intentions, who doth generally say mass 
unto them. If the layman be of any parts or wit, you may dis- 
pense with them also, reserving the same provisos, and thereby 
he mav acquire an estate and be the more able to serve the mother 
church. 

"In case they scruple in taking oaths, you are to dispense with 
them, assuring them that they are to be kept no longer than the 
mother church sees it convenient ; or if they scruple to swear on 
the evangelists, you are to say unto them that the translation on 
which they swear, his holiness the pope hath annulled, and 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 75 

thereby it has become heretical, and all as one upon an ordinary 
story book." Is it to be expected that a man trained in this way 
will tell the truth? Let us not stop here. 

"In case in strange countries ye be known by merchants or 
others trading or travelling thither, for to strengthen your designs 
the more for your intentions, you are dispensed with to marry af- 
ter their manner and thus ye may safely answer, that heretical 
marriage is no marriage." 

Thus a Jesuit can capture a woman and forsake her, and thus 
have four or five or indeed fifty wives as he chooses, as is the case 
with some. Is there any safety in the community while such des- 
picable do6trine is taught and practiced? In preaching there is 
deception enjoined. 

"Ye are not to preach all after one method, but to observe the 
place wherein you come. If Lutheranism be prevalant, then preach 
Calvinism ; if Calvinism, then Lutheranism, ifin England then either 
of them, or John Huss' opinions, Anabaptism, or any that are con- 
trary to the holy see of Peter, by which your function will not be 
suspected, and yet you may still a6l in the interest of the mother 
church ; there being, as the council are agreed on, no better way to 
demolish that church, of heresy but by mixture of doctrines and by 
adding of ceremonies more than be at present permitted." 

"Some of you who undertake to be of this sort of heretical Epis- 
copal society, bring it as near to the mother church as you can ; for 
then the Lutheran party, the Calvinists, the Anabaptists and other 
heretics will be averse thereto and thereby make that Episcopal 
heresy odious to all these and be a means to reduce all in time to 
the mother church." 

Strype and Hallam inform us that immediately after the Ref- 
ormation, "Romish priests in the garb of Protestant ministers en- 
deavored to accomplish the object of the papacy, by sowing dis- 
sension in the Protestant camp and inculcating their own doctrines 
so far as appeared to be expedient." McGovin tells of one Thomas 
Heth, who came to the dean of Rochester, and, pretending to be a 
poor minister, requested the dean's influence with the bishop for 
some preferment. The dean very properly desired to hear him 
preach, before he would recommend him. Accordingly he did 
preach in the cathedral church, and while doing so, on pulling 
out his handkerchief, he pulled out also 'a letter, which, unobserved 



*j6 CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

by him, fell to the bottom of the pulpit and was afterward picked 
up by the sexton and carried to the dean. It revealed the scoun- 
drel, and when arrested and searched, in one of his boots were 
found his beads and several papers, among which were a license 
from the fraternity of Jesuits, and a bull, dated the first of Pius V, ta 
preach what doctrines that society pleased for the dividing of Prot- 
estants, particularly naming the English Protestants by the name 
of heretics. If this could be done in 1568 why not in 1888.^ Is 
Jesuitism behind the ritualism seen in so many of our Protestant 
churches and is it flowering out in the modern clerical gown } Is it 
seen in the endeavor to apologize for Romanism and befriend it ? 
Having ascertained how and by whom the cardinal was educated, 
let us follow the champion deceiver in his hellish work, as he scat- 
ters the fire brands of error in his mad endeavor to destroy the 
temple of our liberties. 

3. Consider his misrepresentation concerning the holy scriptures. 
He says, page 11 3, "God forbid that any of my readers should 
be tempted to conclude, from what I have said, that the Catholic 
church is opposed to the reading of the scriptures, or that she is the 
enemy of the Bible." "Good God, what monstrous ingratitude, 
what base calumny is contained in that assertion. As well might 
you accuse the Virgin mother of trying to crush the infant Saviour 
at her breast as to accuse the church, our mother, of attempting to 
crush out of existence the w^ord of God." "For fifteen centuries 
the church was the sole guardian and depository of the Bible, and 
if she really feared that sacred book, who was to prevent her, dur- 
ing that long period, from tearing it in shreds and scattering it to 
the winds .f^" Does he want an answer? If so, we reply, God. He 
says: "She could have thrown it into the sea, as the unnatural 
mother would throw away her offspring, and who would have been 
wiser for it ?" Again we answer, God. Truth lives because God 
is its author. Rome could not kill it. Cardinal Gibbons declares 
Rome favors the Bible. 

If that unblushing falsehood does not prove all that is charged 
against Jesuitism, then tergiversation and misrepresentation may 
be canonized as virtues. Ponder the fact. False in one, false in 
all. Does the cardinal not offend in this : he tells what he knows 
to be an untruth ? Shall he be believed ? What say you } 

Rome's hatred of the Bible dates back to the time when Rome 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 77 

began. to betray the truth. Rome and the Bible are in antagonism. 
Romanism is the producl of error. The Christianity of the New 
Testament is the rehgion of the Bible. 

The council of Tolosa in 1229 waged war on the Bible. The 
sacred synod stri6lly forbade the laity to possess the books of the Old 
and New Testaments in the vernacular idiom. A layman might 
keep a Psalm book, a Breviary or the Hours of Holy Mary, but no 
Bible. Thus did Rome dare to interdict the Bible. ( Edgar's 
Variations of Popery, p. 250. ) 

As years went on, up went council after council in the gradation 
of their opposition to the word of God and of man's inhumanity to 
man. 

Pope Pius IV, on March 24, 1564, fulminated a bull containing 
this, marked Rule 4 — "Inasmuch as it is manifest from experience 
that if the holy Bible, translated into the vulgar tongue, be indis- 
criminately allowed to every one, the temerity of men w^ill cause 
more evil than good to arise from it, it is on this point referred to 
the judgment of the bishops or inquisitors, who may by the advice 
of the priest or confessor permit the reading of the Bible translated 
into the vulgar tongue by Catholic authors, to those per- 
sons whose faith and piety they apprehend will be aug- 
mented and not injured by it ; and this permission they must 
have in writing. But if any one shall have the presumption to 
read or possess it without such written permission, he shall not re- 
ceive absolution until he have first delivered up such Bible to the 
ordinary book sellers." 

Papal bulls condemning Bible societies and the free circulation 
of the scriptures have increased in intensity and in number since 
the nineteenth century dawned. 

In 1 816 Pius VII issued one. In 1824 Leo XII sent forth 
another, Pius VIII one in 1829 and Pope Gregory XVI gave two, one 
in 1832 and one in 1844. 

They have claimed that the circulation of the scriptures has 
produced more harm than benefit. Despite these proofs, which 
show conclusively that Rome's hatred of the Bible is an establish- 
ed facSl, beyond refutation, as violent now as when she burnt 
heretics with their Bibles hanging about their necks, or ransacked 
the grave of Wicliff', the first translator of the New Testament into 
English, and vented her rage by burning his mouldering bones to 



yS CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

ashes, the tiger, because of a universal sentiment in the United 
States in favor of the word of God, draws in her claws and puts on 
velvet shoes and poses as the friend of the word of God. Be not 
deceived. The seeming is a Jesuit fraud, practiced on the people in 
the interest of the church of Rome. 

The Provincial council in Baltimore expressed professedly a 
desire to have the Roman Catholics possess a copy of the scriptures. 
But when the effort is made to put a Bible in Roman Catholic 
homes the priests resent it as an insult, and when the Bible is givei. 
to an individual Roman Catholic it is often taken and burned. 
This has been repeatedly done, not only in Baltimore but in New 
York and Boston. 

A copy of the scriptures was found in a Roman Catholic home. 
The priest took it and said : '•! will fix it so that it will be safe for 
you to have it." He dipped it in mucilage and made it solid as a 
block and gave it back. An open Bible is the death warrant 
of Romanism. This Cardinal Gibbons knows, and when he sa3As 
Rome favors the circulation of the scriptures he utters an 
untruth. He says the church, had she hated the Bible, could have 
torn it in shreds. This she has done, again and again. Vv'o' se 
than that she has sent to the inquisitorial torture chamber and to a 
horrible death those who were found with a copy of the word of 
God in their hands or homes and with its truths furnished a home 
in their hearts. 

Is it not time to brand such misrepresentations as the offspring 
of a church that is the enemy of Christ and truth, and the bride of 
the prince of the power of the air, the incarnation of Satanic influ- 
ence and the promoter of falsehood ? As untruthful a statement is 
made in the book in regard to the history of the origin of the Bap- 
tist and the Roman Catholic churches. Hs says the Roman Cath- 
olic church was established in Jerusalem in 33 A. D. which is in no 
sense true, and that the Baptist church was established in Rhode 
Island in 1639 and that Roger Williams was the founder, which is 
quite as untrue. He knows, and every one knows that is acquainted 
with church history, that John the Bapti.-t was the pioneer of the 
Baptist church, Christ Jesus the corner stone and Jerusalem the 
place w^here it was first organized under the lead of the Holy 
Ghost and by the aid of the apostles, Peter among the number, — not 
chief, not head, but a brother beloved and commissioned there to 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 79 

preach to the Jews. The New Testament was then and Is the 
rule of their laith and pradice. As a church, the Roman Catho- 
lic found its birth in 606 and had as little in common w^ith the 
Apostolic church then as it has now. 

In a table drawn with a good deal of skill, he has In three col- 
umns the Apostolic church, the Catholic church, Protestant Com- 
munion. Into these columns he crowds as many false statements 
as they will hold. He says among other things that our Saviour 
gave pre-eminence to Peter, a thing which he never did do, unless 
his command, "Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an oftence 
unto me ; for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those 
that be of men," was a pre-eminence. Matt. 16 :33 ; or "Simon, 
Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you 
as wheat ; but I have prayed for thee that when thou art converted, 
thou mayest strengthen thy brethren." Luke 23 13 1. "And Peter 
said, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to 
death. And Christ said, I tell thee Peter, the cock shall not 
crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest 
me." Luke 22 134. Behold the scene. Jesus Christ is being led into 
the high priest's house. "And Peter followed afar off. And 
when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set 
down together, Peter sat down among them." The pre-eminence 
of Peter is not in service but in betrayal. The Roman Catholic 
church resembles him in this. 

The maid looks on him at the fire and says, "This man was also 
with him." 

The tide was running against Jesus then. And Peter denied 
him saying, "Woman, I know him not." And after a little w^hile 
another s^w him and said, "Thou art also of them." And Peter 
said, "Man, I am not." And about the space of one hour after, 
another confidently affirmed saying, "Of a truth this fellow w^as 
with them, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, "Man I know not 
what thou sayest." Hark ! The cock crows. The Lord hears 
the sound, turns and looks at Peter. And Peter remembered the 
word of the Lord, how he had said, before the cock crow, thou 
shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. 

This is Peter's pre-eminence. Then he became a Christian. In 
the denial part, Rome imitates him. Not in the surrender and 
in the repentance. Loyola is the vSaviour of the Roman Catholic 



8o CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

church as we behold it. The story of his life, and not that of Peter, 
belongs to Romanism. He marked out the path which Romanists 
follow. He cast Christ aside and betook himself to fables and be- 
came what he was, the founder of Jesuitism and the main stay of 
Romanism. Born in 1491, wounded in leg and foot in 1521, the 
very year when Martin Luther faced the princes of the states in 
Em'ope and the Diet of Worms, and by witnessing a good confes- 
sion planted the standard of God's truth upon the citadel of empire. 
Loyola was then thirty years of age. While sick in the hospital he 
procured the "Life of Christ" by Thomas a'Kempis and the Fias 
Sanetorium. The life of Christ he rejected and gave his heart to 
fables. To have accepted Christ would have required the new birth, 
a change of heart. To accept fable he could nurse his pride and 
give loose rein to his inclinations. The Roman Catholic religion 
is the religion of a depraved heart, as are Paganism, iSIormonism 
and Mohammedanism. There is no surrender to Christ required 
in it or for it. 

Loyola illustrates this truth, as does not Peter, who was converted 
and who preached Christ on the day of Pentecost and strengthened 
his brethren evermore. Loyola, as soon as he was able, left the 
castle under a vow to walk barefoot to Jerusalem. His first station 
was the chapel of Montserrat, who commanded him to undertake 
the journey. On the way he attacked and robbed a Morisco mer- 
chant. On arriving at the convent the pilgrim could not altogether 
forget his former life. Fully armed and decorated he watched 
for three days and nights before the wonder working image, as 
though he was to receive the order of knighthood. He concluded 
his vigil by hanging his arms and honors close to the image. Then 
resuming his pilgrim's habit, he proceeded on his journey and took 
up his abode at the spital of Manresa, choosing for the companions 
of his bed the vilest and meanest of the beggars that were lodging 
there. He, however, put himself even below such. The time they 
occupied in begging he employed in devotions and exercises of dis- 
cipline. Several hours of every day he prayed upon his knees ; 
thrice daily he exposed his person before his chosen companions and 
scourged himself. He never asked for food, but contented himself 
with some filthy morsel which one of the mendicants might occa- 
sionally spare him. He continued this regime for four months, 
during which he never washed or shaved or even so much as combed 



CARDINAL GIBBONS. 8 1 

his hair. His pilgrim's amice, his only garment, was worn to tat- 
ters by sleeping on the ground. He was at the same time a mass 
of human filth — so loathsome and so swarming with vermin that 
the very beggars were compelled to leave the ward in which he 
sojourned. After being sought out by some Dominicans, he appears 
to have been raised from the black abyss of despair and exalted 
to the not less perilous heights of fanatical devotion. After remain- 
ing a year at Manresa, he proceeded on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
where he arrived in the year 1523 ; but before seeing any of the 
"holy places" he left for Barcelona, and entered the Grammar 
school as a scholar in the following year. Then he prepared for 
the university of Paris, where in the midst of his studies he was 
seized with those raptures of deep religious sentiment which made 
him famous. With him were associated Peter Faber of Savoy and 
Francis Xavier of Pamplona in Navarre. There Loyola won liis first 
victory and compelled those men to do his will. Being joined by 
Alphonso Salmei'on, James Laynez, Nicholas Bobodilla and Simon 
Rodriguez, they, on the 13th of August, 1534, took an oath to do 
what the pope desired without conditions of any kind being annexed. 

To such an extent is subjection carried out that it is enabled in 
the exercises of the order that, "In order that we may altogether 
be of the same mind and in conformity with the church herself, if 
:she shall have defined anything to be black, v^hich to our eyes ap- 
pear to be white, we ought in the same way to pronounce it to be 
hlack. That we may in all things attain to the truth, that we may 
not err in anything, we ought ever to hold it as a fixed principle, 
that what I see to be white I shall believe it to be black, if the 
hierarchical church define it so to be." 

September 27, 1540, the pope promulgated the bull, which is 
the charter of the Society of Jesus. Three years later Pope Paul III 
issued another bull, which gave an elasticity that expanded itself in- 
to a world wide society. The chara6leristics that distinguished 
Loyola are visible in the lives and condudl of the men and women 
who have attained to the honor of sainthood in the Romish church. 

That they deny themselves many comforts, none can question. 
Their motive for so doing is in dire6l antagonism to the teachings 
of Christ. The gospel enjoins faith in Christ as a condition of ser- 
vice. The Christian serves because of love, the Jesuit because of 
fear and the hope of gain. 



S3 CARDINAL GIBBONS. 

5. Cardinal Gibbons claims that there is unity in Romish com- 
munion, but the total lack of it in the Protestant community. The 
reverse of this is the truth. The evangelical world are united in 
Christ their head and stand on the fundamental principles of the 
gospel as a unit. 

In Romanism, dissensions have marked its history in the past, 
greater and more fierce than was ever witnessed in the Protestant 
community. Three popes at the head of three several parties, 
armed to the teeth, have contended for the primacy of St, Peter. 
No student of history can be deceived by such prating. 

Isaiah describes the church as it was and is : ' 'A people laden with 
iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters ; they have 
forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto 
anger, thev are gone away backward. The whole head is sick, the 
whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head 
there is no soundness in it ; but wounds and bruises and putrefying 
sores ; and the daughter of Zion is left as a besieged city." To 
Romanists God says : Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an 
abomination unto me, I cannot bear it ; it is iniquity, even the sol- 
emn meeting ; your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul 
hateth ; they are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. And 
when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you ; 
yea, when we make many prayers, I will not hear ; your hands are 
full of blood. Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of 
your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, learn to do 
well; seek judgment ; relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless 
and don't rob them ; plead for the widow, don't frighten her. Come 
now and let us reason together, saith the Lord ; though your sins 
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red 
like crimson they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient 
ve shall eat the good of the land, but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall 
be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it. 

Romanists must renounce the leadership of a cardinal whose 
falsehoods are transparent and whose misrepresentations are shame- 
less acts for which there is no apology. He is blinded by sin and 
held by iniquity, and if the blind follow the blind, ruin is their 
doom. 



SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE 
FETTER ? 



Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a 
time as this? Esther IV : 14. 

What Mordecai said to Esther, the nation may with confidence 
say to New England. A decree had gone forth which doomed 
Esther and her household, with her people, to utter and irremediable 
ruin. Mordecai learned of it and advised his niece, then queen of 
the realm, to make a plea for her kindred. She remonstrated and 
pointed out the difficulties lying in her path. Mordecai answered 
her, saying, "Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the 
king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest 
thy peace at this time then shall there enlargement and deliverance 
arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house 
shall be destroyed ; and who knoweth whether thou art come to the 
kingdom for such a time as this? " 

In these words of Mordecai there is an admission that a fetter has 
been forged ; that the opportunity has come to break it ; that if 
Esther does not move some one else will take the work, and that 
possibly she has come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Let 
us follow the suggestion thus proffered in considering whether New 
England shall break the fetter. 

I . Does New England wear a fetter ? 

Proud men and women will answer this question in the negative, 
and will declare that while Romanists and Jesuits may be adlive in 
the west, in Canada, in Mexico, and in Europe, they can do nothing 
in this country. "We are too well educated in the United States, 
and there is amongst us such an amount of moral strength that we 
defy the powers of Jesuitism to make an impression on our civil 
and religious institutions." In 1846 this language was used by 
William Hogan. He said, *"I supposed at the time that this de- 
lusion was either peculiar to the gentleman of whom I am speaking 

*High an J Low Mass, by Wm. Hosan, page 364. 83 



84 SHALL NEW EXGLAXD BREAK THE FETTER 

or that I might have misunderstood his character. It was not so^ 
however, for I found there was not a clergyman of his denomina- 
tion, as far as I could discover, who did not indulge the same 
opinions. They looked upon themselves as an over-match for the 
whole body of popish priests, popish colleges, and popish systems 
of education. This is a fatal delusion and it is indispensablv nec- 
essarv to remove it from the ininds of our Protestant clergvmen. 
I can never too often repeat my wish, that all friends of religion, 
freedom of conscience and freedom of inquiry should lay by all 
minor differences and unite as a body, put a stop to these torrents 
of infidelity thundered down from Rome and threatening to inun- 
date the country : but the truth is, I fear, that nothing \vill be done 
in Xew England. They are not a reforming people, nor do they 
seem inclined to srive anv encoura2"ement to a reformer. The lirst 
question they ask is, Will it pay ? Many of them declare that all 
these agitators want is money. If you succeed in your purpose, 
how much money will it cost you, and what percentage will you 
give me ? The man who cannot insure the inquirer that success is 
beyond doubt, and that ten per cent, can be secured for his friendly 
co-operation, is told that he had better stop at once. If, says this 
New England philanthropist, the people should rise at once * * * 
but don't y^ou see, they are not unanimous and what use is there in 
attempting any such thing? " 

New England wore her fetter then, she wears it now ; will she 
wear it always ? Again and again warnings have been sounded 
out. Can it be possible that such is the love of financial prosperity 
that Hogan told the truth when he said, * "Were Luther to rise 
from his grave and propose to the people of New England to re- 
form the Romish church, I do not believe he would find the aid 
and encouragement the subject demands, unless secured by bond 
and mortgage, that the movement would produce ten per cent, on 
the monev invested. In vain should Luther tell the people of Xew 
England that resistance to Rome was necessary, and that the very 
fact of the present desperate attempts that are now being made in 
some parts of the United States were evidences of the corruptions 
of Rv^me." 

These words were written in 1 846. That was before the Fugitive 
Slave law was passed, and almost a score of years anterior to the 

*High aa<l Low Mass, by Wm. Hogau, page 3G5. 



SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 8^ 

hour when the guns of Sumter summoned New England to high 
endeavor. Tiien ten percent, was forgotten. "The Country!" 
*'Tho Union ! " '^Imperilled Liberty!" These were the w^atch- 
words on every tongue. Is it not true that God is summoning New 
England again to acl:ion? 

The people are waking up. They see that Rome is doing its 
worst. Thousands and tens of thousands are crowding into our 
towns and cities and taking control through the ballot, which ought 
never to have been given them, and which may yet be taken from 
them in order that the power, which belongs to Americans, may be 
kept in the hands of those who love liberty. Now, the farm lands 
are being captured, the old homesteads are being occupied by peo- 
ple foreign in birth and purpose. At last Rome uncovers her hand 
and puts forth her strength and attempts to take the youth out of the 
currents of free thought and of our American life, dooming them to 
dwell in the night of superstition and the damps of tyranny. Shall 
the fetter be broken ? 

3. Let us consider in tlie second place if New England's oppor- 
tunity has not come to deal Rome a terrible blow. 

It is the faith of millions that God gathered up the winnowed seed 
of the world, shipped it on the Mayflower, and commanded the Pil- 
grims to use it, and with it sow the western continent. The exodus 
of liberty is thus set forth: "And to the woman were given the 
wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her 
place." At one time the tide of immigration flowed west, and the 
song ran : 

"I hear the tread of pioneers 

Of nations yet to be. 
The first low wash of waves, where soon 

Shall roll a human sea. 

"The rudiments of empire here 

Are plastic yet, and warm ; 
The chaos of a mighty world 

Is rounding into form." 

The wave has swept across the continent. The places made 
vacant on our hillsides and in our villages are being taken by for- 
eigners, who, led by priests, take possession not only of the deserted 
homes, but of politics, of the school, and of the business. The 
Aqueduct commission investigating the rascalities that have beeix 



S6 SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 

going on in New York furnishes proof positive of a fa6t often 
charged, that emigrants with the smell of the steerage still on them, 
taught by Roman Catholic priests to lie for the good of the church, 
obtain their naturalization papers and vote within a month after t'.iev 
are landed. All this must be looked after and checked. "And the 
earth helped the woman." This land, so productive, so full of min- 
eral wealth, is working like a loadstone. It is attradling the en- 
terprising of all nations. This the devil cannot always manage. 
"The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which 
the dragon cast out of his mouth." "And the dragon was wroth 
with the woman." His wrath is beginning to be revealed. The 
devil hates Christianity, and is doing his best to break it up, and "is 
making war with the remnant of her seed which keep the command- 
ments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 
XII :i6, 17. 

This fight is now on. Look at it in Marlboro. For two hun- 
dred years it has been a typical American town. At length shoe 
and other manufactories were introduced and the village passed in- 
to Catholic control. In the place are three hundred of English or- 
igin, two thousand French Canadians, five thousand Irish, and five 
thousand Yankees. Parochial schools have been built ; the town 
government and the school board have been put into Catholic hands, 
to do with both as they please. "The Yankees here," as has been 
said by S. B. Pratt, editor of the Marlboro Daily Mirror, the cham- 
pion of liberty in this stirring town, "are mainly temperance people, 
republicans in politics, and believing in protection to American 
labor. 

"The Irish, as a rule, believe in license, and are democratic in 
politics, and in favor of free trade. Between these two great forces 
the French citizens, doing their own thinking, have suddenly become 
the controlling influence, as they hold the balance of power." To 
break down their influence, the French printer and writer was ar- 
rested on a serious charge and thrown into prison, but was shortly 
released by the court. Romanism runs to inquisitorial hate. 

Then came the war upon public opinion. It is the theory of many 
which finds expression in these words from Charles A. Dana of the 
New York Sun: "When every other bulwark is gone, the free 
press will remain to preserve the liberties which we mean shall be 
Iianded do^vn to our children, and to maintain, let us hope, the re. 



SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 87 

public in all its majestv and glory for ever and ever." This sounds 
well, but, alas ! it is not usually true. Tlie press is even more sen- 
sitive than political parties. They are the outgrowth of the aggre- 
gated combination of men, influenced by a given class of opinions. 
The newspaper may be dominated by an individual. lie may have 
cash, and that mav give him the control of the stock of the concern. 
He may be without character, principle, or even a level head, and 
so absolutely afraid to speak. He may be loyal to God and to the 
right, and be equal to the emergency. In Alarlboro, when this war 
broke out, S. B. Pratt, the father, was in the west, and an attempt 
was made to secure peace by silence. 

Finallv a word of dissent was published. In Julv, iSSS, Rev. 
A. F. Newton had spoken to a large audience at the New England 
Chautauqua, South Framingham, under the caption, "American 
Temperance under a European shadow," and said: "The ]\Iarl- 
boro Star, a Roman Catholic paper, is sustained no doubt by the 
Jesuits." For that statement of fact the "Marlboro Mirror" was 
boycotted. Little Roman Catholic children were persecuted for 
selling the paper. The editor-in-chief returned and issued his dec- 
laration of independence, and as a result "The American" was 
started. 

"The earth helped the woman." Very manv patriots all over 
this countrv became interested in the contest waged in that Catholic 
town, and the Pratt Brothers, follov.dng their leader, stepped to the 
front and became champions, with the editors of the "British Am- 
erican," the "Free Press," Boston ; the "Converted Catholic," New 
York ; the "Primitive Catholic," Brooklyn ; the "Protestant Stand- 
ard," Philadelphia ; and the "Argonaut," San Francisco, of a work 
which is destined to take the country out of the hands of Romanists 
and place it in the hands of men who are American in sentiment, if 
not in lineage. 

Biddeford, Me., furnishes as good an illustration of a town wear- 
ing Rome's fetter as does Marlboro. There was prosperity. Prot- 
estant workingmen lived in the enjoyment of abundance of work and 
fair wages, when the agent of the great corporations went to Can- 
ada, advertised for a cheaper class of labor, and brought seven 
thousand Frenchmen in and drove out seven thousand Americans. 
This made the town papal in spirit and a^Dpearance. In spite of it, 
it was determined to break the fetter, and so a meeting was organ- 



88 SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 

ized. Trads were distributed and agencies were employed to pro- 
claim the truth and to diffuse the light. The result is all that could 
be hoped for. It has been shown that Rome cannot shut out the 
gospel. The truth jiJroclaimed gives freedom. 

New England is a model. It is the mission of New England to 
show the more excellent way, not in restricting emigration, but in 
^velcoming it, educating it, and bringing it into fellowship with the 
advanced thought of a living and working Christianity. "A clear 
field, a fair fight, and God defend the right," has been New Eng- 
land's motto in the past ; it must be so in the future. 

New England is the modeling room in the nation's work-shop. 
When Dexter A. Hawkins entered the Vatican and placed before 
Cardinal Antonelli the perfected idea of our American public school, 
he took with him a description of the Massachusetts educational 
system and a picture of a Boston public school building. 

When Isaac Backus and others appeared before the Continental 
Congress to plead for the establishment of Religious Liberty, they 
found their model of a free church in a free state in Rhode Island, 
as thought out by Roger Williams, not in Maryland, with a system 
tainted and stained by popery. When Kansas was withstanding the 
slave power and was seeking to build up a commonwealth that 
-should bless the people who might find there a home, they took New 
England men with New England ideas, gave them place and power, 
and contended for the principles which made New England great, 
Toecause it made her free. 

Daniel Webster once stood in New Hampshire before the moun- 
tain on whose rocky promontory is carved the outline of a human 
face. Folding his hands and looking at it for a moment, he said, 
"That face expresses a great fa6t, and tells all the world that it is 
the mission of New England to grow men." 

Never was it easier to do right. About slavery and the laws there 
were various views and varying views, cherished by good and hon- 
est people, concerning duty. Not so is it at this hour. 

Romanism is an ancient foe and does not even wear a new or a 
decent garb. The "Harlot of the Tiber" has not improved. To 
fight Rome, all we have to do is to believe in God and accept the 
teachings of His Word, following the pillar of fire and cloud along 
the open path to duty. 

On the day of the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, when fear 



SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 89- 

was common and peril imminent, alarm spread through the great 
host tramping along Pennsylvania avenue, because the men in 
charge and on guard believed they heard indications, in a muttering- 
noise, the cause of which was beyond their ken, of an Infernal ma- 
chine. The weather was hot. The, streets were dry. Back and 
forth they went and at last they dete6led the origin of the strange 
din In the squeaking of the Yankees' shoes, which proved to be the 
sounding forth, in unmistakable tones, of the conviction of the 
world, that the tramp of free men Is but the advance picket of God 
Almighty's purpose to deliver mankind. The squeak was New 
England in origin, and before we shall get through with the work 
the world will learn that the principles which rule in Vermont and 
Maine, In New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Con- 
nedllcut, are to have a potential sway in the upgoing temple of hu- 
man llbertv, which shall yet span us all and bless the brotherhood 
of man. 

3. New England must break the fetter. It Is the duty of New 
England to prove It is safe to tell the truth. 

An old story Is told of the queen of the Sandwich Islands, whicli 
it will do us all good to repeat over and over. Her people believed 
that a certain volcanic mountain was God. From it came blessings 
and cursings. All were afraid of it. All worshipped it and con- 
tributed from their scanty means to win Its favor. The queen found 
Christ. She saw that worshipping a mountain was idolatry, and 
determined to rescue her people from this terrible delusion. She 
proposed to take a pitcher of water, climb the mountain, and dash 
it into the face of their so-called God. Up she went. The people 
in blank amazement waited and watched at the base. It was an 
awful sight to them. A pleasure excursion for her. She did the 
deed and lived. 

Romanism has been the volcanic mountain which people have 
been seeking to propitiate. Latterly good people came to see that 
there is no peril in telling the truth about Romanism. Is there not 
encouragement in the resolve of the Evangelical Alliance to protest 
to the Boston school committee, and ask a hearing ; and in the 
declaration that the state should at once resume the entire control 
of public education, and make attendance upon the public schools- 
compulsory upon all children of school age and good health, ex- 
cepting only those children who attend such private schools as are 



•90 SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 

under the approval and supervision of the state ; and that the gen- 
eral government be asked for such legislation as shall prohibit any 
interference with the management of public schools. Rome can 
not be placated. There is only one thing she fears — that is law. 
Let us give her the law. To do this, all must yield something. 
Schools, no matter by whom taught, must acknowledge the suprem- 
acy of the state, and must submit to have their teachers examined 
and their books inspected, that the interests of patriotism may be 
subserved and the welfare of the children be protected. Against 
this is an organization utterly inditierent to public opinioL, that 
claiiTis the pope and the priests hold the place of God ; that to obey 
them is to be free, no matter how chains may fetter or ignorance 
may dwarf. Let us make this truth apparent. If Rome sends word 
that all Roman Catholic parents having children must send them to 
the parochial school under pain of sin, the state must determine the 
character of the school to which these children shall be sent, and the 
Roman Catholic inust obey the behests of the state under the pen- 
alty of the law. An Italian pope^ in the Vatican or out, cannot de- 
cree what kind of people shall be grown into our American life. 
We need Americans by education, who shall be familiar with a his- 
tory that lights the world and is the glory of humanity. 

Romanists are in peril. They are sowing the wind and they will 
reap the whirlwind. Think of the condition of affairs in Rome, 
w^here the pope is treated with contempt, priests are insulted on the 
public streets and where it is common to see women spit in their 
faces. Italians are becoming atheists. This is the result of the 
education given them by priests and nuns. Do we want such seed- 
sowing here that we may reap such a harvest ? Can Roman Cath- 
olics afford it? A Roman Catholic has well said : "It is by reason 
of what so-called godless public schools do that'our Protestant min- 
isters have such a poor show on the scaflbld, in our jail yards, and 
in our prisons and poor houses." If Romanists had the slightest 
gratitude for the blessings they have received in this free land, they 
could not be persuaded to join in this fight against American insti- 
tutions. When they came in poverty, flying from despotism, to 
this land of liberty, they were welcomed to our schools, homes, 
shops and farms. Today, like vipers, they seek to bite the bosom 
that warmed them. Thev have trampled on our Sabbath, and filled 
the land with dissipation, profanity and wickedness. Add to this 



I 



SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 9 1 

the mutilation of our school books, which makes them anti-Ameri- 
can and anti-Protestant, and a conception may be formed of what 
Jesuitism boldly undertakes to accomplish. Bismarck declares that 
the saddest sight he ever saw was that of the mutilated text books 
in the French schools. The Boston school book is becoming the 
rival of the French. Shall the fetter be broken ? 

4. We cannot sei^ve God and mammon. Complimenting Rome 
will not break the fetter. 

You have noticed the attempt to carry water on both shoulders, 
to sen'e God and mammon, to fight Rome and praise it. The Ro- 
man Catholic church, with its foreign leaders, does not belong to 
this country, and for this reason any school doctrines which are 
advocated by it do not belong to America and should not be toler- 
ated. The state has the right to educate ; this was the faith of the 
first settlers of New England, who built the school house side bv side 
with the meeting house, and insisted on having godly teachers as 
well as godly preachers. Romanists say, "We don't want to mix 
up with Protestants, Jews and infidels in school matters, because we 
want our children to grow" up in the holy Roman faith like our 
fathers." 

Let it be the pride of our people to have their children educated 
in the public school. Empty the private school into the public ; 
give them the best teachers. Say to all, if our public schools are too 
bad for the children of Roman Catholics, they are too bad for Romish 
teachers to work in, and supph' their places with teachers distin- 
guished for faith and patriotism. 

5. Remove the Romish gag. How shall this fetter be broken.'' 
Only by first becoming assured that there is a fetter to break. 

Look abroad ; politicians are weaving the fetter. Not one word 
dare be spoken on the platform of any party against the aggressions 
of Rome. It took a long while to get the cotton out of the mouths 
of freemen. Our next business is to remove the Romish gag. The 
theorv of the politicians is that Romanists are a unit. A Protestant 
may be insulted as an individual ; he may resent it or brook it. Not 
so with Romanists. They stand together. In this they set us a 
good example. Let an American sentiment be built up that shall 
be as sensitive reo-ardinsf the truth as Romanists are reo^ardinsf a slisfht 
given to the church. Then it will be fifty millions against seven. 
The American Republic and the Romish system are in direcl antag- 



92 SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 

onism. One or the other must go to the wall in this western world, 
and, citizens of the Republic, you owe it to God and humanity that 
it be Rome. If Italy can be made unbearable for pope and popery, 
because of an organized public sentiment against the abhorrent 
tyranny, then let the Republic of the United States arise and do even 
bolder and better work. Our education, our liberty, our opportun- 
ity, are better than are those of Italy. Let us show it, and show it 
soon. Declare that if our schools are too bad for Roman Catholic 
children they are too bad for Roman Catholic teachers, and the school 
boards that manage them, must be freed from Roman Catholic di- 
rectors. 

Think of the Roman Catholic children. Today the priests dress 
them in fancy colors and lead them, with bands of music, to dedi- 
cate the parochial schools. It is, for these children, a march to ruin. 
Rome intends to take them out of the light of the nineteenth cen- 
tury and whelm them in the night of the dark ages. Will our 
French fellow citizens stand that ? In France they have thrown off 
the rule of the priest. They have passed a law that the French 
priest shall marry to protect the home, and that the priests, with the 
nuns, shall be excluded from teaching in the public schools. It is 
the glory and the pride of France that her people sing the Marseil- 
laise and shout for liberty. Let us hear that song and cry in the 
French camp in Xew England. Who can forget that when Louis 
Xapoleon had written his letter recognizing the Southern confed- 
eracy, making the bold attempt to strike down liberty in its strong- 
hold, that he heard the Vivas for Liberty as they rolled along the 
boulevards of Paris, and inquiring what was the cause, heard with 
apprehension and alarm that Abraham Lincoln's proclamation had 
emancipated three millions of slaves. He tore up the letter, saying : 
* 'Frenchmen will ne\'er oppose an effort to win f'"eedom for a race." 
Will the Frenchmen of Xew England break the fetter, or surrender 
their children to the despotism of Rome? 

Rescue the perishing ; this is our next business. A woman in 
Xew York was riding in a inagnificent carriage near the street on 
\\hich she lived. There had been a fire, her home had been 
consumed, the driver hastened thither, she alighted. Her furni- 
ture had been piled up in a great heap : ottomans, sofas, beds, 
bureaus and pictures were before her. She paused and inquired 
for her child. The child was lost ! She threw herself on the goods 



SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 93 

saying, ''You have saved my goods, but you have lost my child." 
Romanists, this will be your cry unless you take your child out of 
the parochial school and give him back to the blessed influences of 
an education that breaks the fetters of ignorance and superstition 
and builds him up physically, mentally and spiritually, so that in 
development he fills out the conception of a bright and glorious 
American manhood. 

When Daniel Webster replied to Hayne, in his great speech, he 
began it by calling attention to the fad: that a seaman desired to get 
his reckoning before he gave his orders. Let us go back and see 
what we have done to placate Rome, and then go back and undo it, 
to protect our nation and glorify God. First, we banished the Bible 
from the schools as a reading book. Put it back. Second, we tried 
to have a literature that should please them, and threw out Dickens' 
Child's History of England. Then came Miss Thompson's History 
of England, but the inquisitors objedted and it was thrown out, and 
it was found impossible to have a history of England taught if the 
priests were to be consulted. Now let us go back, since the chil- 
dren of Roman Catholics arc withdrawn, and have our children 
taught from books that are true to truth, however much they may 
condemn Rome. The priests must be compelled to let go of their 
proxies in our school boards, because true men shall take the place 
of those who now bow down to Rome. We have given up the pri- 
maries to the bully and blackguard. Make them the resort of the 
gifted and the good ; put out the cigar and lift up the gentleman. 
Take possession of the sources of power in the name of God and 
duty. 

6. New England will break the fetter when she withstands 
Rome. 

What is the foe doing ? There need be no difficulty in answering 
the question. Rome is attempting to manipulate both political 
parties. Let us divide with them, and keep Republicanism free. 

When Gov. Robinson, in Kansas, was confronted by the bandits, 
five to one in number, he was asked to surrender. He replied : 
*'I will compromise with you. We will keep our guns and give 
you the contents." Today when people here are asked to surren- 
der to Rome, tell them w^e v^nll keep our public schools and give 
Rome the results. Rome seeks to destroy this palladium of liberty. 
Here wisdom is required. All classes should feel the need of re- ' 



94 SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 

sisting this conspiracy. The future of the state depends upon the 
youth now being educated. When Napoleon sat in Berlin as con- 
queror, the thinkers of Germany said : Let us attend to the youth. 
Bismarck was then a boy. As a man, he broke up the Napoleonic 
dynasty. 

Americans, this is our next business. Begin it at once. Teach 
your children to be missionaries to those who are. for the time shut 
up in the parochial school, out of the sunshine and in the gloom of 
superstition. 

Roger Williams, who on "What Cheer Rock" planted the seed- 
ling of religious liberty, declared that passengers or crew were not 
under obligations to sit still and see traitors scuttle the ship on which 
they sail. We are doing this when we permit the Roman Catho- 
lic assumption, that the children belong first to the church, to bear 
sway, and take them out of the public school. The children are 
first born into the republic. The state has a right to see that its 
born citizens shall be instructed as to the true nature and claims of 
the state. It certainly has the right to see that its born citizens 
shall not be poisoned against it. In things that pertain to itself and 
its own welfare the state is supreme. As a rule it is ordered that 
some portion of the word of God be read in the public school with- 
out written or oral comment ; but no scholar, whose parent or 
guardian obje6ts in writing, shall be compelled to attend. 

Now that Roman Catholic children are withdrawn, it becomes us 
to let fly again the banner of an open Bible and stand by it against 
all comers. Remember that Roman priests never yet gave in their 
parochial primary schools sufficient instruction to fit a populatioa 
for the responsibilities of free government. Declare, then, for a 
round, full and complete and not a fragmentary and one-sided edu- 
cation. 

Keep near the foe. Let us at this hour take a lesson from the 
greatest of American soldiers. The immortal Grant fought, while 
fighting was in order, as if that was his business. Arriving in 
Washington, he consulted with his commander-in-chief, and with 
a flannel shirt and a tooth-brush for baggage, went to the Rappa- 
hannock. Then he saw the army, praised it, but said it looked as 
if it had never fought a battle through, and proposed to begin at 
once and finish up the job. He attacked the enemy. He did it 
again and again and said, "We shall fight it out on this line if it 



SHALL NEW ENGLAND BREAK THE FETTER 95 

takes all summer." Grant was near, said Gen. Buckner ; others 
were brave, but Grant was near. Near at Fort Donelson, at Vicks- 
burg, at Lookout Mountain, at Appomattox. Remember his tele- 
gram : "Gen. Lee has surrendered the army of Northern Virginia 
on terms proposed by myself." 

Let us attack and keep near the foe. Press on them the truth, 
and then shall the fetter be broken, and the nation shall follow in 
the God-illumined path, and having broken the fetter of Rome we 
will help to emancipate the world. 




WILLIAM HOGAN. 



A NATIVE OF IRELAND, FORMERLY ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, AND" 

AUTHOR OF ''POPERY AS IT IS," "AURICULAR CONFESSION," 

AND "POPISH NUNNERIES," ETC. 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT 

MAY BE. 



"•Babylon the mighty Is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habi- 
tation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of. 
everv unclean and hateful bird." Rev. i8 :2. 

The Italy of the monks and of the popes is truthfully described ini 
these words of the great revelator. 

Beautiful for situation, embracing 100,000 square miles (being; 
in size about equal to New England and New York) , if her people- 
were Christianized, she would be the joy of the whole earth. Alas,, 
sin has reigned there. Rome — with its wolfish progenitor, which, 
suckled Romulus and Remus, and with its robber character, woni 
because, there, fair young maidens invited as guests were captured 
and made wives — finds in its early history a prophecy of its future. 

Whoever has gazed upon her hills and vales, covered with villas' 
and vineyards ; her plains, fruitful and cultivated ; her palaces, at- 
testing to the wealth, the genius and the taste of men whose fame^ 
fills history, obtains a conception of what Italy might have been* 
had not paganism and Romanism, which is paganism revived and 
baptized, taken out of her that healthful life and filled her with alL 
unrighteousness and wickedness, envy and murder. Assassination* 
and suicide were the portion of the rulers ; the people were left the 
prey to cruelty and robbery. 

In the past, on almost every delightful eminence, where eveiy 
prospe(5l pleases and only man is vile, stood monastery and convent,, 
like birds of prey, and casting shadows dread and drear over what 
otherwise would be transcendently beautiful. Monks with their 
coarse habits, nuns with their black veils, tell of every thing but the 
free spirit of the gospel of love« From dawn to dark they have 
gone ; the night is black where Rome spreads the pall. We cannot 
realize it unless we have seen it. Take faith in the Lord Jesus- 
Christ out of a community and you subtra6l its power and 

97 



9o ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 

leave a residue of men without the life of God. In this land it is 
difficult to understand it. Here are freedom and recklessness. 
We are afraid of neither pope nor devil. No martyr's pile can be 
placed, up to now, across the path of the devout. It was not so in 
Italy. Persecutions the worst, the most cruel, have characterized 
the land and the city nearest to and most under control of the pope. 

Justice fell in the streets. Those who loved Christ in spirit and 
in truth had been banished the realm. Some had gone direct to 
God through the open door of a martyr's death. Others had jour- 
neyed by slower stages, through exile and through sorrow. But 
in Italy there were few, prior to 1870, who knew and loved the 
Lord. 

The history of Rome dates back to April 21, 763 B. C. Rome 
had kings for nearly two hundred fifty years. The seventh and 
last was Tarquin the Proud, dethroned 510 B. C. in consequence 
of his cruel tyranny and the violence offered by his son Sextus to 
the virtuous and beautiful Lucretia. The Roman Republic lasted 
five hundred years, when it gave place to the Roman Empire, 
under Augustus Caesar. The story of the reign of the Caesars still fills 
the world with surprise and wonder. Julius Caesar w^as made 
military tribune 69 B. C. He at once engaged in wars that ex- 
tended the bounds of the empire not only through France, but 
into Germany and Britain. His term of government was extended 
five years, and Pompey became his rival. In spite of the veto of 
the tribunes, January 6, 49 B.C., Mark Antony and Quintus 
Cassius passed a decree commanding Caesar to lay down his arms 
and resign his military power. Caesar crossed the Rubicon, and, 
on April i , entered Rome in triumph. Two years later he was 
assassinated in the senate house by Brutus. 

Caius Octavius, son of Caesar's sister Julia, was declared heir 
by Caesar's will, and by adroit management won the victory 
over all his enemies. He closed the gates of the Temple of Janus ten 
years before the birth of our Saviour, and kept them closed for two 
years after that wonderful event took place. Then followed Tibe- 
rius, Caligula, Claudius, who was on the throne in the days of Paul, 
and Nero, by whom Paul was put to death. For three hundred 
years Italy was full of cruelty, of persecution and hate. 

Christians contended for the faith and went to the fagot and 
the cross because of their love. In 305 Constantine, proclaimed 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 99 

emperor in York, England, began a reign which changed the face 
of history. He removed the seat of government from Byzantium 
to Constantinople, and gave the church supremacy over nations. 

Previous to this, persecutions had made Europe a field of blood. 
It is supposed that, during three hundred years, 3,000,000 Chris- 
tians sacrificed their lives to their devotion to truth. Then followed 
prosperity and effeminacy. In 410 Alaric entered Rome with his 
conquering army, and the Goths were masters. Attila, the Hun, 
called the scourge of God, laid the Romans of the east and the west 
under tribute, and had he not died in the midst of his successes, A. 
D. 453, he might have destroyed the city altogether. His death 
put an end to the conquests of the Huns, and they settled in Hungary. 

The reign of the popes began in May, 1278, when Rudolph of 
Hapsburgh, then emperor of Germany, defined by letters patent 
the status of the church, relieving the people of all the places 
from their oath of allegiance to the empire, and acknowledging 
the sovereignty of the See of Rome. 

Since then, up to 1870, popes have been temporal sovereigns, 
with the exception of the revolution, under Cato de Rienzi, in 
1347 ; and under the French, from 1797 to 1799 '1 and under Maz- 
zini, from 1848 to 1849, when there was a republic. 

In 1870 Victor Emanuel entered Rome and made it the capital 
of Italy. A popular vote was held on the 2d of October, which 
was overwhelmingly in favor of Italian liberty and unity. 

How strange the events of that hour. In 1868 I was in Paris 
and addressed our Baptist church on Rev. 17 :ii : "And the beast 
that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and 
goeth to perdition." This, I believed, described Louis Napoleon, 
who tried to be reckoned in the Napoleonic line. A member stepped 
up and said : "You are in danger of being arrested." I replied : 
Let us not act as if Louis Napoleon was God, hut believe in the 
power of the Almighty, and that this man goeth to perdition. Then 
he was the mightiest potentate that sat a throne. The pope, the 
harlot of the Tiber, rode on him into power, and it was his hand 
that upheld the hand that held the crosier. 

Two years had not gone, when the minister of Napoleon, walk- 
ing in the garden of the palace of Emperor William, made a re- 
mark which offended him. A rebuke was given. Telegrams flew 
back and forth. In two weeks war was threatened. 



lOO ITALY AS ir WAS AXD A.vIjixUCA AS IT MAY BE. 

Turn to Rome. The council is in session. Pio Nono has been 
declared infallible. Two hundred thousand people have carried 
him to his throne in St. Peter's and worshipped him as God. He 
is absolute in power. 

War is declared. Napoleon is beaten — crushed, banished. The 
army of France is withdrawn from France. The army of Victor 
Emanuel passes through the gates of Rome, and the Eternal City 
is open to the gospel. A new spirit is in the air. The little dog 
cart with the Bibles is the distinguishing feature of the day. 

The entrance of thy word giveth life. Wherever the Bible can 
go in advance, civilization, liberty and brotherhood are sure to follow. 

Babylon has fallen and has become the habitation of devils, 
because Jesus is banished from the heart. 

Love of God begets love for man. Rome, empty of the love of 
God, has no love for man. In the priesthood, in tiie convent, in 
the monastery, hate rules and love is banished. The result is fear- 
ful to contemplate. Cruelties that baffle description are enacted in 
convents — described in part in "Rome in America," pages 147 
.and 148. 

Who can think of nuns gagged, of women trampled on by those 
in authority, without understanding the words "the hold of every 
:foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird?'' 

The cry from heaven is : Come out from this realm of unbelief. 
Death characterizes the Italy of the monks and rmns. There are 
feast days, saint days, holy days, and processions of spiritual orders 
without number. Is not this a sign of faith .^ asks the unthinking 
inquirer. Are not Romanists sincere believers.'^ Go to their 
churches in Italy and America, and see their looks and prostrations 
and their surrender to forms and ceremonies. W^hatever takes 
hold on God is faith, wdiatever rejects him is unbelief. Italians are 
taught to reverence the crucifix, to pray to the virgin and to the 
saints, and to trust in relics ; but between them and Jesus Christ — 
:the one mediator between God and man — is the Virgin Mary, the 
rosarv, and the blind formula so full of doubt and despair. Christ's 
words, "Have faith in God,'' which showed through the night of 
Jewish tradition and pagan superstition, are essential to the life 
of Italy. 

Who can descend into the death traps of the Roman inquisition, 
into the cold, damp cell of the prison, and not feel it.'* The word 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMKK!C:A AS IT MAY BE. lOI 

''prison," though still a sound of sufficient dread and discomfort, 
means something very different with us of the nineteenth century 
from what it meant in the ears of Italians in the past. We erecl 
large, airy edifices for our criminals, paying due attention to health 
as well as to safe keeping ; but the jails of Italy were regarded 
simply as lock-up places, and provided the walls were thick and 
dungeons deep, the prisoners might die from foul air, or starve from 
scanty food, or perish wholesale from disease, without the free 
world outside troubling itself at all in the matter. 

Why do we call attention to the infamies by which Italy was 
emptied of Christians ? Because there are seven million Roman 
Catholics who would tolerate such iniquities in America, if they 
could .^ No, because there are seven million Roman Catholics in 
America that do tolerate them. Persecution as fiendish and 
punishment as terrible are even now meted out wherever Rome has 
the power, and she has it in her convents ; and no American can 
enter them to search them without breaking an American law, 
placed on our statute books by papal votes. Because there are sixty 
thousand Romanists leagued together and ready as one man to fight 
for the restoration of the temporal power of the pope in Italy ; and 
perhaps a million, perhaps seven millions, to give sympathy and 
help to bring about this result ; and this done and the papal power 
restored, every Protestant church would become extinct m the 
twinkling of an eye. The fires of persecution would flame out 
again, and the groans and cries, the agonies and the terror, v^diich 
characlerized the Holy Office in the past, would reappear in ten- 
fold fierceness. 

There is peril in Rome now. Edward McGlynn did not think 
it safe to trust himself to the tender mercies of Leo XIII. Brinof 
before the mind a picture of the ceremony of the Auto Da Fe (The 
Act of Faith) . We are in Madrid. In the great square is raised 
a high scaffold. Into this square, from seven in the morning until 
nine at night, come criminals of both sexes, Jew^s, Jewesses, lovers 
of Christ, and Roman Catholics, to be punished. The inquisitor's 
chair is above that occupied by the king and queen. Nobles are 
sheriffs. Friars are preaching the dogmas of Rome. 

A young maiden of exquisite beauty appeals to the queen : "Great 
queen, will not your royal highness intercede for me, and consider 
that I profess a religion which I imbibed from my infancy ?" The 



I02 ITALY AS IT WAS AXD AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 

queen dare not express the pity she feels. She is frozen by terror, 
under the eye of the chief inquisitor. Now mass begins. The chief 
inquisitor moves to his place, attended by the king, who has sworn 
to protect the Catholic faith, to extirpate heretics, and to support 
with all their power the prosecutions of the inquisition. The king 
swears the oath again. The fires are lighted. Out come the pris- 
oners, loaded with chains. They come before the lord chief justice. 
"In what faith do you die.?" "Roman Catholic." "Strangle 
and burn him." "Protestant." "Burn him alive." 

The stakes are about four feet high, there is a seat, at the bottom 
the dry wood. Those who prefer death to a betrayal of the truth 
are bound with chains to the stake. The Jesuits are done. They 
cannot obtain a convert. Turning from them they declare hell to 
be their portion. Then the mob take fire and make a beard by 
burning the face, even before the fire is kindled at the feet. The 
professed beard being thus made or trimmed, as they call it in their 
glee, fire is set to the wood which is at the bottom of the stake. 
It seldom reaches above the seat. Often the feet are burned away 
first. The cry, "Mercy, for the love of God !" is heard by these 
so-called Christians w^ith unfeigned joy. 

The pretended zeal of the inquisitors, for preserving religion in 
all its purity, is merely a cloak to hide their boundless ambition, 
their insatiable thirst for riches, and their vindi6live spirit. This 
is seen in the condition of affairs wherever Rome has the ascen- 
dency. Garibaldi, in his "Rule of the Monk," makes this state- 
ment : "In 1848, when the liberals seized Rome and the pope 
fled, the government granted religious toleration. One of the first 
orders of the republic was that the nunneries should be visited, and 
the convents searched. Gieuseppe Garibaldi, then recently arrived, 
visited in person every convent, and was present during the whole 
of the investigation. In all, without exception, he found instru- 
ments of cruelty ; and in all, without exception, w^ere vaults plain- 
ly dedicated to the reception of the bones of infants. Statistics 
prove that in no city is there so great a number of children born 
out of wedlock as in Rome, and it is in Rome, also, that thegreat- 
est number of infanticides take place. This must ever be the case, 
with a wealthy, unmarried priesthood and a poor and ignorant 
population." (Rule of the Monk, page 29.) 

In Rome there is a population of from thirty to forty thousand 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. IO3 

priests, monks and nuns, condemned by egotism to the material 
interests of the Vatican, to an impossible chastity, to violence 
against nature, for which she avenges herself by treading under 
her feet morality, and compelling families and the state to bear the 
consequences of this condition of violence in which the church has 
placed it. Humanity and morality are paying the cost of eight 
centuries of temporal power, of the ambition of the pontificate, 
and from it came the blood-stains that disgrace the Eternal City. 

A few years since the world was horrified by revelations made 
concerning the internal workings of several European convents. 
Germany refused to permit any religious establishment to exist, ex- 
cept it should be inspected by the government inspector. The 
convents, compelled to submit to this or disband, preferred the 
latter course, afraid of the light. Such a law ought to be enadled 
in America. Italy suppressed 2382 convents, worth $8,000,000, and 
turned out 63,239 persons reared in idleness and supported by 
charit}^. 

In the name of liberty, in the name of humanity, why will 
not the American people wake up ? We have reached the time 
when the proposed plans of the papacy — laid down more than 
half a century ago — for overturning our republic, are being put 
into effed:, and pushed with determination and power. The at- 
tempt to break up the public schools is a part of the plan. The 
Roman Catholic church is in the field, bidding for power. Popery 
political is the distinguishing feature of Romanism at this hour in 
Italy, in Germany, in Great Britain, and in America. Leo XIII 
has revoked his order of abstention and has given his approbation 
to the policy of participation in political affairs. He means to fight 
in Italy for his throne and in America for the overthrow of the 
republic. 

The tolerance of Americans has been met by the intolerance of 
Romanists. In not one instance have the leaders of Rome lowered 
their flag. The claim is made, and the claim is urged, that the 
pope is rightful ruler of America and of this world. Every cardinal, 
archbishop, bishop and priest swears an oath that he will put the 
crosier above the flag, and the pope above the president ; hence 
the command, "Fight the good fight of faith." Stand for liberty 
because it is imperilled. Romanists must aid us in resisting the 
aggressions of the priests and help fight these nunneries yawning to 



I04 ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 

engulf their daughters in the same vortices of slavery and corrup- 
tion w^hich beggared Italy and raised havoc with so many homes. 

Romanism is a growth. It is what it is today because of cen- 
turies of wrong doing. Through Constantine, a man in many 
ways infamous, it obtained the protection of imperial authority, and 
then, with the revenues of ruined paganism in its hands, the church 
put on its corruptions. Her priests affected the state of princes ; 
the church claimed the power of an autocrat, and exercised the 
despotism of an absolute monarch. Besides the revenues of pagan- 
ism, the riches of the church were still increased by the voluntary 
and forced contributions of its votaries. Filial charity dies where 
Romanism is supreme. The priest drives out the household and 
watches the dying, not from sympathy, not for the good of the soul, 
but, through the instrumentality of superstition, to obtain control of 
the property. Money is given to be used for the purchase of mass- 
es, that the soul may get out of purgatory. These mighty cathe- 
drals and convents and bishops' palaces are built out of money given 
by men and women who robbed their families to pay a man who is 
as powerless as themselves to attempt an impossibility. The soul 
that sinneth shall die. "He who fails to provide for his own house- 
hold denies the faith and is worse than an infidel." 

Then, as now, women were most easily swayed by the arts of the 
clergy. Affection for their spiritual advisers, an anxiety for salva- 
tion, made and makes them lend a ready ear to councils whispered 
to their affrighted consciences. Today this is seen in our midst. 
Women not only give themselves to the priests, but their posses- 
sions also, and rob their relatives of what belongs to them. 

The rites and sacraments of the church are converted into means 
of gain. For money Rome takes it upon itself to pardon sin and 
to reconcile the sinner with an offended deity. Pure do(?trine is 
neglected ; morality is largely disregarded ; even the most inhuman 
crimes are of little moment, if the offender cares to be liberal to 
the church. He is a good Christian who comes often to church 
and bring-s his offerino: to be laid on the altar of his faith. The in- 
fluence of such a sentiment is only evil, and that continually. 

The progress of the papal church dates back to 607, when the 
complete establishment of the ecclesiastical authority of the pope be- 
came a fa6l. From that time corruption advanced with rapid 
strides. Heathenism found a home in the church. Paganism re- 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 1 05 

vived its ritual, because Rome imbibed its spirit, and tottered on 
her way through centuries of darkness, sinking deeper and deeper 
in the iTiire of polytheism. She is unchanged at this hour. She 
adapts herself to circumstances that she may win place and powsr. 
She professes faith, or denies her faith, as interest may prompt, or 
policy dictate. In America she prays for the republic ; in Europe 
she fights it. In Boston and New York she establishes Sabbath 
schools, and imitates evangelical denominations in work ; in Rome, 
in Spain, and in Mexico the children grow up in ignorance of the 
veiT name. In China Rome adopts Confucianism, in India Brah- 
minism ; in Africa she does not objedl to a fetich if they will give 
it the name of a saint. In Rome Jupiter is baptized and becomes 
St. Peter, and the Queen of Heaven is called St. Mary, and Phidias 
and Lysippus are shoved aside to give room for Romish idolatry. 

Pride, cruelty, avarice and licentiousness were and are the marks 
by which the deluders of the people may be distinguished above 
their fellow men. 

Rome is unblushing in her arrogance. As^^rooflook not to Italy, 
but to New York. On Blackwell's island a $30,000 church was 
eredted for the ininates of the island, to be used bv clergymen of all 
denoininations. A Roman Catholic priest takes possession of this 
church, erects his altar, and holds it against all comers. The 
matter is referred to the authorities, and they dare not interfere for 
fear of losing Catholic votes. The St. Vincent de Paul church on 
23rd street refused to pay its assessment for the cost of paving the 
street, although Protestant churches paid their assessments prompt- 
ly. The authorities, for fear of losing votes, paid the Catholic 
assessment out of the general fund. In 1857 Boss Tweed bought 
power by giving to the archbishop a lot on which the Fifth avenue 
cathedral, worth $4,000,000, now stands. . Let Rome get more 
power and there would be more gifts, more usurpations, and inore 
abominations. 

In Ohio the Geghan law was passed, in 1874-5, solely in the in- 
terest of Rome. It requires, in effect, that a separate room be 
given, in all state penal institutions, exclusivelv for holding confes- 
sions and worship : and that the priest shall have the exclusive 
spiritual control of the minors of Roman Catholic parents or guard- 
ians ; and that the officers having charge of such institutions shall 
be forbidden, in their work of reformation, to touch on anv relig- 



I06 ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 

ious subjects whatever, so as to give the priest a monopoly of that 
work as far as irresponsible criminals are concerned. To carry 
it, priests unblushingly and unhesitatingly went among the Demo- 
cratic members of the legislature and threatened a withdrawal of 
the Catholic voters from their party if they failed to pass the bill. 
The bill was passed and the Democracy held the solid Catholic 
vote. 

In Paris, during the commune, convents were searched and hor- 
rid revelations were made. Women in rags and tatters were found 
in wooden cages — a plank for a bed, without blanket or mattress — 
left there to die because they had committed a fault with a priest 
and he had tired of them. Thus Rome outrages decency in Europe 
and America, and treats woman as a convenience rather than as 
an equal. 

The story of Maria Monk is familiar to many. It ought to be 
read by every citizen of our free land. See her. She has taken jthe 
black veil. She has lain in the coffin and is dead to the world. 
See her in procession coming before the superior, and told that 
one of her great duties was to obey the priest in all things ; and this 
she soon learned to her astonishment and horror was to live in the 
practice of criminal intercourse with men dead to every sense of honor, 
of refinement, of delicacy, but brutal in manners as wild in passion, 
who subjected young nuns to outrageous abuse, and left them without 
a protector and a friend. Infants born in the convent were strangled 
and thrown into holes and covered with lime. The persecution of 
nuns in these hells in Rome and in America staggers belief. A 
church which denies her priests an affectionate companion in wom- 
an seems glad to trample upon every principle of justice and morality. 

The teachings of Rome have debased woman in Italy. Alphon- 
so de Liguori teaches that a husband may beat his wife at his will 
and that she is bound to bear children and is reduced to the condi- 
tion of a slave. That is bad, but this is worse : any scoundrel tired 
of a woman can embrace the religious state, enter a monastery and 
be rid of her, though he has ruined her under promise of marriage. 
A nobleman can seduce a servant and be pardoned because she is an 
inferior. Bad as Romanism is in Italy, it is not better in America. 

''An odious egotist," writes a student of the religion of Rome from 
Rome, "he traffics on the cradle of the child and the bier of the 
old man ; he bargains in his prayers with the women ; reduces the 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. lO/ 

church to a shop, the altar to a bank, the crucifix to a balance ; he 
yearns after money, above all things ; and divides paradise, like a 
theatre, into boxes, pit, stage and reserved seats, and issues tickets 
for each, which are paid for at the sacristan." 

"The Jesuit," said Gavazzi, "loves to teach youth. He breaks 
their young spirit ; emasculates it, so that it can never burst into 
manhood. When the youth of the nation are the pupils of the Jesuits 
the manhood of that nation is prepared to be the willing slaves of 
the despot. I speak not now of my Italy, but for your young 
America. If you wish your temples filled with cursings, your 
courts with perjuries, your streets with assassins, countenance the 
Jesuits ; but if you wish to keep your prosperity unbroken and 
your liberty untarnished, keep far away from you this pestilence of 
the human race." 

For ages the entire population in Rome has been condemned by 
the church to live in immorality. There, where conjugal affection 
has been almost a crime ; there, where tribunals have existed in 
which the daughter could accuse the father, and the mother the 
daughter ; there, where betrayal was cultivated ; there, where 
any crime could receive a pardon for three Ave-Marias ; 
there, where an assassin, with his hand dripping with 
blood, after five minutes spent in the confessional, can be 
rated as spotless as a piece of newly washed linen ; it is not strange 
that the law is trampled into the mire, personal safely is nowhere 
enjoyed, and the stiletto is the plaything of the hour. Jesuitism 
breeds all this. Are you ready to give the young over to them.? 

Think of the exploded errors of the past for a moment, and get 
comfort as you study the progress made. Thomas Jefferson, in 
1781, in his "Notes on Virginia," warned our people of danger, 
and advised that a law be passed preventing any but native-born 
citizens from holding the office of consul. In 1798, James Mad- 
ison, the ruling spirit of the Virginia legislature, advised that every 
constitutional barrier should be offered to the introdu6lion of foreign 
influence into our national councils. The fear was that the 
alien-born were slaves to a foreign despot. That fear is gone. 
No longer do even the leaders of the American movement fear 
men because of their foreign birth, but simply because of their 
foreign religion. We do not apprehend danger that a quarter of 
our population are foreigners, four times as prolific as the native 



loS ITALY AS IT ^VAS A-VD AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 

stock, coming and to come well nigh a million a year, though the 
olJ world can spare two millions yearly and not decrease its pop- 
ulation ; there is room enough for them all. But their coming en- 
tails mighty responsibilities. They must be led to Christ. To Jo 
this those next to them must preach the truth to them. Many of 
them make our best Christians and our best citizens. Without 
Christ they are without hope. As a rule when they reach here 
they are unfit for freedom. In their native homes, knowing only 
ruthless taxation, army exaction, landlord oppression, government- 
al coercion, pitiless eviction — victims of civil despotism and priestly 
tyranny — they come to us bringing not a qualification for the sacred 
responsibilities of American citizenship. They fill our poor houses, 
prisons, hospitals and asylums. They mass themselves in our cities, 
creating plague spots, breeding epidemics, physical, moral and po- 
litical. In New England they furnish one-fifth of the population and 
three-fourths of the crime. Sixty per cent of the saloon keepers are 
Europe-born. These desecrate our Sabbath, corrupt our elec- 
tions, and misrule our cities. To save ourselves we must seek to 
save them. 

The American movement broke because the leaders tried to 
bolster up slavery vyhile it opposed Romanism. On that rock the 
bark struck. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Truth and er- 
ror cannot always walk together. No ixiore is it possible to sustain 
the liberty for wdiich Americans have fought and at the same time 
bolster up Romanism. 

Freedom and despotism are antagonistic. They cannot mingle. 
There is still hope for our country. We believe that God believes 
in America and has purposes not yet v^^rought out which are to be 
fulfilled. All things right themselves in time. Truth is mighty 
and will prevail. The real issue now before the people is between 
freedom and slavery. This fact is writing and rewriting its plaintive 
record on every heart. For this reason I preach the truth, knowing 
that, in the words of the God-man, the truth gives freedom. The 
press, the Bible, the system of free schools, the enlightened public 
sentiment of this and other lands, all side with freedom. 

Let us not forget it. Christians are here to save men, to build 
them up in the faith of the gospel, to champion truth and to battle 
for every principle which has to do with advancing the glory of God 
or with amelioratingr the condition of man. 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. lO^ 

It is this fact which gives Christianity perennial youth. Roman- 
isin degrades, destroys and inipoverislies, and so it is forever and 
everywhere a curse and must be abated, or the nation cursed by it 
must be ruined. In 1623 Jesuitism went down in massacre in Japan,, 
and Romanism is dead in the Sunrise kingdom, while Christianity, 
recognized on Plymouth Rock in 1633, is now the glorj^ of Japan 
and the hope of the world. 

The America that is to be is not the cramped, priest-ridden, Bible- 
hating and pope-loving country that Romanists dream it will be. 
There is an outlook for freedom left. God never made these beau- 
teous plains, these towering forests, these lovely groves, these golden 
landscapes, to be the heritage of serfs and vassals. 

In the uprising among Romanists of the old world, more than of 
the new, w^ behold indications which promise much for the future. 
There the truth has been proclaimed. Here it has been suppressed. 
For nearly a quarter of a century it has been thought to be un- 
gracious, inhospitable, bigoted and sectarian to say a word against 
the church of Rome. It is a ixiistakc. Romanists live for them- 
selves and not for the republic. With the richest establishments 
their people are the poorest. They beg of all. They give to none. 
The west begins to see it. Let the truth be told and there is no 
danger. 

It is now known that Rome is on the make. There is no regard 
for friendship's sake. Rome does her pleasure and is indifferent 
alike to the behests of patriotism and the interests of society. 

Says the Cincinnati Telegraph, the organ of Rome : "The Dem- 
ocratic party is what it is because of the Roman Catholic vote. If 
that party serves us, she can have our support ; when she hesitates 
or halts, she will lose it." Such is the faithlessness and selfishness 
of Rome. 

Vices, immorality, ingratitude, indifference, apathy — these are 
the consequences of the dodlrines of the priests in open antagonism 
to the existence of families. 

Let Americans protedl the home from the inroads of the priest and 
they will not furnish such numerous contingents to convents and 
monasteries, which are the curse of humanity, the schools of lazi- 
ness, the sinks of obscenity, of vices and crimes. The corpses which 
are so continually discovered there are there to attest it. 

In King's County penitentiaiy is a woman who has been in prison 



no ITAI.i^ AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. 

eighteen years for infanticide, and who is condemned to stay there 
for life. That which is a crime in the state is a practice in the con- 
vent. Luther in his Table Talk says that in his time a pool was 
cleaned out in the vicinity of a convent and the bottom was almost 
literally paved with the bones of infants. 

2. Romanists believe in the what is to be. A foreign writer in 
the Catholic World, describing the condition of affairs in England, 
despairs of victory and turns to the United States, and says that here 
is the only land where the pope rules supreme. They expecl to 
hold this land because of the cowardice of Protestants and the wari- 
ness of Jesuits. 

In Germany schools are under a superintendent. All institutions 
are open to search. In the United States Rome is supreme. Laws 
which govern citizens of the republic are trampled on by Roman- 
ists. Teachers in our public schools have to be examined. The 
gray nuns are exempted by a(5l of legislature. 

No officer of the state has any authority to visit the educational 
institutions of Roinanists for the purpose of inquiring into their 
course of study and rules of discipline, nor indeed is any special in- 
formation obtainable as to the number and situation of their schools. 

If a sister or a friend be there immured, she may be put out of 
the way, thrown into a pit and covered with lime, but no friend can 
hear her piteous wail to be delivered from that place of banishment 
and confinement. America owes it to free institutions to change all 
this. 

3. America will resemble Italy if we negledl national education. 
Ignorance is on the increase in the south and in the north, and igno- 
rance is the sheet anchor of Romanism. 

The mind must feed on truth or it must become stagnant and 
stupid. Take the enlightening truth out of the path of the young and 
you force them to make a desert march. 

4. We must talk plainly of the designs of Rome. Among them 
of chief importance is their faith in a ballot controlled, not by judg- 
ment or interest or the welfare of country, but by a foreign potentate. 

Says a distinguished prelate : "Popery will in time be established 
in America, and then religious liberty is at an end." 

It is known that, no matter how strong be the appeal to vote for 
any given cause, the only question asked is : Will it help Rome.? 
Parties may come and parties may go, but Rome is for Rome forever. 



ITALY AS IT WAS AND AMERICA AS IT MAY BE. Ill 

We owe it to our children to adopt an amendment to the consti- 
tution which shall forbid appropriations for the benelit of any insti- 
tution under se6tarian control or for any religious or non-religious 
se6l. All ecclesiastical property shall be held in trust by a board of 
trustees numbering not less than five members of the congregation- 
owning or donating the property. No property shall be exempt 
from taxation except it belong to the state or nation. All new voters 
shall be able to read and write. Unless such an amendment be 
passed, Rome will hold the republic in her grasp. The ballot is 
not free. Romanists are slaves of a foreign master. 

The plan is thus outlined to subvert our free institutions and 
to papalize America : * 'Send over the surplus population of Eu- 
rope. They will come with foreign views and feelings and will form 
a heterogeneous mass, and in the course of time rise and overthrow 
the republic." 

Keep such fa6ls before the people, and there will be a coming out 
from Rome or a coming out against Rome. I would not be an 
alarmist. The republic cannot afford to forget the peril : i . In 
free immigration, which is bringing to America the scum of Europe. 
2. The surrender to Rome through marriage, in which the children 
are given to Rome. 3. The constant inculcation of fertility, osten- 
sibly to carry out the Biblical injundlion but really to increase 
political power. 4. The influence of the women's rights craze, 
which is giving our school interests over to Roman Catholics. 

It is my hope that Americans will wake up and determine that 
America shall be ruled by lovers of the Bible and of humanity. Be- 
fore the progress of free thought can be checked there must be a 
total surrender to Rome of the God-given rights won by the blood 
of our sires and brotheis. The pulpit is free, the press unmuzzled, 
the church as a rule is in line with God's purpose. Then let us 
resist what cursed Italy, and keep America for God and the brother- 
hood of man. 




GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA, OR HOW RO- 
MANISM HATES REFORM. 



"Only acknowledge thine iniquities." Jer. 3 : 13- 

Girolamo Savonarola illustrates, in his life and death, not only 
how Romanists persecute Romanists, but how^ utterly hopeless it is 
for a Romanist in Rome to hope to reform Romanism. There is 
but one thing to do, and that is to come out from her and leave her, 
"that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her 
plagues." Savonarola stayed in, and suffered the consequences. 

"Go and proclaim these words," said Jeremiah, "and say Re- 
turn, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause 
mine anger to fall upon you ; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and 
I will not keep mine anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, 
that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast 
scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree ; and ye 
have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord." 

That is what Romanists do not propose to do. No matter how 
bad their faith and practice may be proven to be, they excuse them- 
selves because of the authority of the church to grant indulgences 
for sin and inake apologies for crime. 

Savonarola, the inost illustrious preacher of his time, saw the 
wickedness of Romanism and cried out against it, and was reward- 
ed with being burned at the stake. The times in which he lived 
were horrid beyond description. Priests illustrated every vice and 
scandalized every virtue. They gambled, drank to drunkenness, 
fought in the churches disguised as soldiers, debauched mar- 
ried women, seduced young girls, converted their homes into 
houses of ill-fame, and heartlessly compelled their children to beg 
their bread froin door to door, without a father's care or a mother's 
love. Scandals were the rule, virtues the exception ; and yet even 
then the claim of infallibility was pressed. 

Savonarola saw all this, and believed if he only called attention to 

113 



£14 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

the truth, then they would shake off the fetters that bound them 
and come into the light. They shook off the fetters, but did not 
come into the light. They revolted from Rome, but did not 
accept Jesus Christ. They knew not of him. There were no 
Bibles, and consequently no knowledge of the way of life revealed 
in the tnith as it is in Jesus Christ. The priests, instead of training 
youth, trained dogs and birds ; instead of books they had children. 
They sat with topers in the taverns. They turned from Christ to 
image worship, and from a life of sobriety, of purity and of holi- 
ness to a life of drunkenness, licentiousness and terrible depravity. 

Then add to all this the claim that the church, a human institu- 
tion, composed of the worst elements of society and in confli6t with 
the teachings of the word of God, has, by some means, the povv^er 
to punish or to remit punishment, and power is placed in the 
hands of unscrupulous men which can be carried to any limit 
against God, right and justice. 

It was in 1492 that Savonarola appeared in Florence. The world, 
with its partitioned empire and its roomy universal church, seemed 
to be a handsome establishment for the few who were lucky or wise 
enough to reap the advantages of human folly — a world in which 
lust and obscenity, lying and treachery, oppression and murder, 
^vere the characteristics of society. The church had never been so 
disgraced in its head as in Alexander VI, the synonym of all that is 
vile, despotic and cruel ; and had never shown so few signs of ren- 
ovating belief in its lower members. 

Over a century had gone since John Wycliffe preached Christ, 
and sent forth the word of God as a light to the world. It had not 
penetrated Italy. The world lay in the thralldomofa rayless night. 
The Dominican order, upheld by the vicar of Christ, had revealed 
the cunning of the sleuth-hound and the savageness of the tiger. 
The church had not only imprisoned and branded and burned the 
living, but violated the dead. It robbed graves to the end that it 
might convict corpses of heresy, and that it might take from widows 
their portions and from orphans their patrimony. We remember 
the millions in the darkness of dungeons, the millions who perished 
by the sword, the vast multitudes destroyed in flames, those who 
were flayed alive, those who were blinded, those whose tongues 
were cut out, those into, whose ears, was poured molten lead, those 
whose eyes were deprived of their lids, those who were tortured 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. II5 

and tormented in every way by which pain could be inflicted and 
human nature overcome, and all by a church claimed to be "inex- 
haustible in fruitfulness of all good things." 

This was Romanism before the Reformation, when the ages were 
dark because the servants of the Inquisition had extinguished every 
light in their power which Christ had kindled to enlighten the world. 

Uncap Romanism, descend into the pit of its abominations by re- 
calling the life, sufferings and exploits of Girolamo Savonarola, and 
you will see a church distinguished for treachery, bribery, perjury 
and the commission of every possible crime, in possession of the 
governments of Europe and using Its power to brutalize, degrade 
and stupefy the children of men. 

The vicars of Christ were the worst of the lot. In them the 
wickedness of the church seemed to blossom and bring forth fruit. 
They persecuted for opinion's sake ; they sought to destroy liberty 
of thought, and endeavored to make of every brain a Bastile, in 
which the mind should be a convi(5l, and every tongue a prisoner, 
watched by a familiar of the Inquisition, who threatened punish- 
ment, imprisonment and burnings here, and eternal burnings here- 
after. Romanism preferred "magic to medicine, relics to remedies, 
priests to physicians. It thought more of astrologers than astrono- 
mers. It hated science, and opposed every discovery caiculated to 
improve the condition of mankind." 

Think of such a church now being praised and apologized for, 
when it is known that it furnishes the fo undation for the most terri- 
ble mental tyranny that ever existed. Truly has it been said : 
'''• There is no crime that the Catholic church did not commit^ 
no cruelty that it did not pra6iice., no form of treachery that it 
did not reward^ and no virtue that it did not persecute. It was 
the greatest and most powerful enemy of human rights. It did all that 
organization, cunning, piety, self-denial, heroism, treachery, zeal 
and brute force could do to enslave the children of men. It was 
the enemy of intelligence, the assassin of liberty and the destroyer 
of progress. It loaded the noble with chains and the infamous 
with honors. In one hand it carried the alms dish, in the other a 
dagger. It argued with the sword, persuaded with poison and 
convinced with the fagot." 

From the days of Constantine to the time ofHildebrand it sought 
temporal rule. It was full of merciless hate and wily arts. The 



Il6 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

spiritual power was used when it found it impossible to gain control 
by the sword. It could damn with the lip when it could not match 
the strength of the arm. The two powers which have been chiefly 
employed by Satan, in his conflict with the church, have been per- 
secuting governments, founded on force and exercised by the sword^ 
and false priesthoods, founded on delusion and exercised bv the 
various means of social injury. 

It is impossible to glance along the historic periods wdien Leo- 
the Great put his hand on paganism, took out of it all that \vould 
sen^e his purpose and crushed the residue ; when, under Gregory 
the Great, 604, popery became the religion of the Roman and Baby- 
lonian world ; when Charlemagne, in 800, became master ; \vhen- 
kings fought with popes, w^hen pope and anti-pope contended for 
the supremacy — without feeling that we arc dealing w^ith the mech- 
anism of hell. As Macaulay said : "It is impossible to deny that 
the polity of the church of Rome is the very masterpiece of humart 
ingenuity." In truth, nothing but such a polity could, against suck 
assaults, have borne up such doctrines. 

The taproot of the ]3apacy is despotism. Metropolitan and pa- 
triarchal dignity came when the heart grev^' cold, and love for 
Christ and man gave way to love for self and power. Then Rom- 
anism took upon itself forms of government in which there was a 
hierarchy of praetors, proconsuls and a host of inferior officers, each 
in strid: subordination to those immediately above them, and grad- 
ually descending to the lowest ranks of society. The night was- 
dark, for the witnesses were still. 

The contradi6tion between men's lives and their professed beliefs- 
had pressed upon Savonarola with a force that had been enough to 
destroy his happiness, and at twenty-three had driven liim to a cloister. 
He believed that God had committed to the church the sacred lamp 
of truth for the guidance and the salvation of men, and he saw^ that 
the church had become a sepulchre to hide the lamp. As the years- 
went on he grew desperate. Had he known Christ, he could have 
mastered Romanism. Knowing only the church, Romanism mas- 
tered him. 

Girolamo Savonarola was born in Ferrara, Italy, Sept. 21, 1452, 
just thirty-one years, tw^) months, before Martin Luther and eleven 
years after Christopher Columbus. He lost his love, and became a 
priest and lost his life. He saw Romanism in its true condition. 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. II7 

Romanism had its own way. There was no revolt. The question 
arose, ^'Has the world ceased to have a righteous ruler?" 

Savonarola was a Romanist. He believed in the church. He 
tried to reform through the church. He saw the terrible con- 
dition of the people, and he cried, "^ sword of divine vengea7ice 
hangs over this land. '" His cry startled the people. He believed 
that nothing could be done unless the church was reformed. 

Those who speak of Romanism as a form of Christianity ought 
to read the life of Savonarola, who fled to a monastery in hopes of 
finding purity, but, finding it the habitation of every unclean passion 
and lust, was driven to live in a cloister and in prayer, in order that 
he might avoid the contamination of society. 

I. Me attacked Roiiianism despite perils as did Farel and 
Zivingli in Switzerland and Luther in Gerinany. 

If Romanism is disturbed it must be attacked again. The truth 
must be impressed upon the heart that it is now the conspiracy of 
hell against liberty, against the Bible, against education, and against 
Christianity. Romanism is no better now, though the world is bet- 
ter. Evangelical Christianity has borne fruit, but Romanism is 
inhabited by a spirit that produces despotism. The attempt is being 
made to have the relations between the church and state in the United 
States based on canon law. That means the establislniient of the 
Inquisition in America. Let me describe it, as worked in the days 
of Savonarola. 

The Spanish Inquisition, strictly so called, that is to say the mod- 
ern or later institution established by Pope Alexander VI and Fer-^ 
dinand the Catholic, w^as doubtless invested with a more complete 
apparatus for infli(5ling human misery and for appalling human im- 
agination than any of the other artfully arranged inquisitions, whether 
papal or episcopal. It had been originally devised for Jews or 
Moors, whom the Roman Catholic church did not regard as human 
beings, but who could not be banished without depopulating certain 
districts. It was soon, however, extended from pagans to heretics. 
The Dominican Torquemada was the first Moloch to be placed upon 
this pedestal of blood and fire, and from that day forward the "holy 
office" was almost exclusively in the hands of that band of murder- 
ers. In the eighteen years of Torquemada's administration io,330' 
individuals were burned alive, and 97,321 punished with infamy, 
confiscation of property or perpetual imprisonment, so that tlie total. 



Il8 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

numbfir of families destroyed by this one friar alone amounted to 
114,401. It was a court owning allegiance to no temporal author- 
ity, superior to all other tribunals. It was a bench of monks with- 
out appeal, having its familiars in every house, diving into the secrets 
of every fireside, judging and executing its horrible decrees without 
responsibility. It condemned not deeds, but thoughts. ItsjDrocess 
was reduced to a horrible simplicity. It arrested on suspicion, tor- 
tured till confession, and then punished by fire. Two witnesses, 
and those to separate fa6ls, were sufficient to consign the victim to 
a loathsome dungeon. Here he was sparingly supplied, forbidden 
to speak or even to sing, and left to himself till famine and misery 
should break his spirit. When that time was supposed to have ar- 
rived, he was examined. Did he confess and forswear his heresy, 
whether actually innocent or not, he might then assume the sacred 
shirt and escape with confiscation of all his property. Did he per- 
sist in the avowal of his innocence, two witnesses sent him to the 
stake, one witness to the rack. He was informed of the testimony 
against him, but never confronted with a witness. The accuser 
might be his son, father, or the wife of his bosom, for all were en- 
joined, under the death penalty, to inform the inquisitors of every 
suspicious word that might fall from their nearest relatives. 

The indictment being thus supported, the prisoner was tried by 
torture. The rack was the court of justice. The criminal's only 
advocate was his fortitude. The torture took place at midnight, in 
a gloomy dungeon, dimly lighted by torches. The vidlim, whether 
mati-on or tender virgin, was stripped naked and stretched upon the 
wooden bench. Water, weights, fires, pulleys, screws — all the ap- 
paratus by which the sinews could be strained without cracking, the 
bones crushed without breaking, and the body racked exquisitely 
without giving up the ghost — were now put into operation. The 
executioner, enveloped in a black robe from head to foot, with his 
eyes glaring at his victim through holes cut in the hood which muf- 
fled his face, practiced successfully all the forms of torture which the 
devilish ingenuity of the monks had invented. Execution followed 
confession. 

The auto da fe was a solemn festival. The monarch, the high 
functionaries of the land, the reverend clergy, the populace, re- 
garded it as an inspiring and delightful recreation. When the 
morning arrived the vi6tim was taken from the dungeon. He was 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 



119 



then attired in a yellow robe without sleeves, like a herald's coat, 
embroidered all over with black figures of devils. A large conical 
paper mitre was placed upon his head, upon which was represented 
a human being in the midst of flames, surrounded by imps. His 
tongue was then painfully gagged, so that he could neither open nor 
shut his mouth. After he was thus accoutred, and just as he was 
leaving his cell, a breakfast, consisting of every delicacy, was placed 
before him and he was urged to eat. He was then led forth into the 
public square. The procession was formed with great pomp. It 
was headed by the little school children, who were immediately fol- 
lowed by the band of prisoners, each attired in the horrible yet ludi- 
crous manner described. Then came the magistrates, the nobility 
and other dignitaries of the church ; the holy inquisitors, with their 
officials and familiars, followed, all on horseback, with the blood-red 
flag of the sacred office waving above them, blazoned upon either 
side with the portraits of Alexander and Ferdinand, the pair of 
brothers who had established the institution. After the procession 
came the rabble. At the scaffold a sermon was preached, lauding 
the Inquisition and condemning the prisoners. Then the sentences 
were read to the individual victims. The clergy chanted Psalm 51 . 
If a priest was among the culprits he was stripped of his canonicals, 
w^hile his hands, lips and crown were scraped with a piece of glass, 
by which the oil of consecration was removed. Then they were 
delivered to the executioner, with an ironical request that he would 
deal with them tenderly and without blood-letting or injury. Those 
who remained steadfast to the last w^ere then burned at the stake ; 
they who in the last extremity renounced their faith were strangled 
before being thrown into the flames. Such was the Spanish Inqui- 
sition. 

The spirit that made such a fearful instrument of torture possible 
was alive and adlive at that time, not in Florence or Italy alone, but 
in every part of the Catholic w^orld. Why was such cruelty toler- 
ated? Not for Christ, but for Rome. Not to please God, but to 
secure temporal power for the church on earth. As Savonarola 
said: "I have to choose that which will further the work en- 
trusted to me. The end I seek is one to which minor respects must 
be sacrificed." The death of even noble men, of innocent men, 
was, in the esteem of the devout Romanist, a light matter when 
weighed against the interests of the church, against "the furthering 



120 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

of God's kingdom on earth, the end for which I hve and am willing 
to die." At such a time lived Savonarola, and among people 
inflamed with such sentiments and deluded by such errors. 

He was of middle stature, of a dark complexion and of a sanguine- 
bilious temperament ; his nervous system was exquisitely deli- 
cate and sensitive. His eyes flashed from under black eyebrows ; 
his nose was aquiline ; his mouth wide, with full lips, which, how- 
ever, he held compressed in such a manner as to manifest an im- 
movable firmness of purpose ; his forehead, which even in his youth 
w^as furrowed with wrinkles, indicated a mind given to contempla- 
tion and deep thought. His whole physiognomy had, in truth, 
nothing of the beautiful in it, but at the same time there was an ex- 
pression of stern nobleness of chara6ler, and a certain melancholy 
smile gave his coarse and sharp features such an expression of good- 
ness that his very look inspired confidence. His manners were sim- 
ple and unpolished ; his discourse, although unadorned and even 
almost rough, became animated, efleclive and powerful to such an 
extent as to convince and subdue every hearer. 

In his conventual life he usually observed a profound silence, 
being wholly given up to the contemplation of heavenly things. 
When walking in the cloisters he appeared more like a spectre than 
a living man, to such a degree was he emaciated by fasts and ab- 
stinence. The most severe trials of the novitiate appeared light to 
him, and the superiors of the convent had constantly to restrain him 
from doing too much. On the days he did not fast, he hardly ate 
enough for the support of life. His bed w^as of wicker w^ork, with 
■a sack of straw and a blanket ; his cloaks were made of the coarsest 
material ; but he was most exemplary in point of cleanliness. His 
modesty, his humility and submissive spirit were without a parallel 
in the convent ; the fervor of his prayers was such as to excite the 
wonder of his superiors. 

He entered the convent in 1475 and remained in it seven years. 
At the beginning he divided his time between prayers and priva- 
tions. Then he began to instru6l the novices, and afterwards he was 
asked to preach. 

During his lifetime the scandalous corruption of the popes was an 
acknowledged fa6t. Tne elections were openly carried by simony. 
The scandalous lust, the unquenchable desire, for gold, of Sixtus IV, 
•was only matched by his profligacy. 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 121 

A friend said of Savonarola : "His face was rather plump than, 
thin, his cheeks somewhat rounded, and a full under lip gave 
sweetness to his countenance ; his face was well placed, and every 
other part of his person proportioned and firmly knit ; exhibiting in 
all his gestures and movements an air of gentleness and gracefulness. 
His hands were bony, and so little covered with flesh that when held 
against the light they seemed almost transparent ; his long, spread- 
ing lingers ended in very pointed nails. His carriage was upright, 
his movements grave, equal, resolute, tempered by humble courtesy,, 
and polished and agreeable in every a6lion." 

As a preacher he drew nearer and nearer the Bible. He became 
influential in the state because he applied the truth, as revealed in 
the word of God, to the necessities of the people. He had. begun 
to speak of religion and morals when the Florentines had been 
aw^akened to a love of liberty. He had aided them by advising- 
and establishing the new republic, and he all at once became the 
idol of the multitude ; but, while he wished to enlist politics and 
liberty in the cause of religion, the Florentines, on the contrary^ 
would have religion enlisted in the service of liberty. On every 
occasion when the friar, in his sermons, kept politics entirely out 
of view, the attention of his audience ceased. He was thus con- 
strained to proclaim Jesus Christ king in Florence, to represent the 
Virgin giving counsel to him in the pulpit in favor of the new con- 
stitution, and that the Lord had commanded the abolition of parlia- 
ment. It was constantly necessary for him to liken the new govern- 
ment to the angelic hierarchy, and the various phases in the Flor- 
entine revolution to the seven days of creation. But, in truth, when 
Savonarola seemed to be omnipotent over the Florentines, he had 
found an insuperable obstacle in their religious indifference, the 
only part of the work of the Medici which he had been unable to 
destroy. The people ran from doubt to fanaticism, and from fanat- 
icism back again to doubt, without his ever being able to make 
them truly religious, how^ever earnestly he might labor in that cause. 
They wished him to be the renovator of religion. The Flor- 
entines w^orshipped him as the founder of their republic ; the}^ knew 
nothing of the grace of God and Jesus Christ. The new life was- 
not their life ; they sought not salvation in Christ, but pov^er apart 
from him. 

Savonarola's influence with the Florentines became that of a die- 



122 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

tator. Peter II, the successor of Lorenzo, vainly sought to silence 
him by presents, and the profligate pope, Alexander VI, by the of- 
fer of a place in the sacred college. He reje6led the offers with con- 
tempt, and declared that he wished no red hat but one reddened 
with his own blood, the hat given to the saints. He regarded 
Alexander VI as a monster to be detested and despised. 

The expulsion of Peter II by the Florentines gave still wider 
scope to the daring monk's activity. He became a political as well 
as a religious leader, vindicated the rights of the republic against 
foreign aggressions and proposed for the state a species of theocratic 
constitution, by which Christ should be king and the principles of 
the New Testament the foundation of government. He proclaim- 
ed war against all amusements, proposed a rigid scrutiny of 
morals and even demanded the removal of the pope. He did 
everything but preach Christ as the Saviour of the lost and the un- 
done. 

2. In the midst of Homanistn^ he travailed in birth for Ro- 
manists. Had he lifted up Christ, they might have been redeemed. 
This must be done now. This work brings us in sympathy with 
Jehovah, who gave his only begotten Son to die for the lost — not for 
our children alone, not for our friends alone, but for the lost. Men 
are lost ; they are all about us ; and we must not be afraid to preach 
the truth to them in love, in fidelity and with persuasive power. 
Paul shared this feeling, when he saw men given up to idolatry. He 
proclaimed the Son of God, who came to take away the sins of the 
world. Christians do not do it. 

Think of the risk of this brave preacher. Think of Farel, posting 
up these -words : ''''All those who say mass are robbers^ inurder- 
'ers and seducers of the feofle'"' He was arrested for it and car- 
ried to the court, and there defended himself out of the Bible. This 
was not enough ; the Bible was not authority. Savonarola was 
equally brave ; he denounced sin in pope, bishop, priest and people ; 
but he had not been redeemed and could not tell the story of re- 
deeming love, and lacked the power of those who can. The battle 
was formed against him ; the pope and the powers of Rome at- 
tempted to destroy him. Oh, that he had known Christ at that hour ! 

A sentence of excommunication, fulminated against him, which 
he disregarded, only increased his popularity. He went on and held 
up a nobler conception of life, thus was popular. His friends stood 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 



123 



by him. In auto de fes he destroyed beautiful and Hcentious works 
of art. There was lacking the work of God in the hearts of the 
hearers. This is the basis of church life and of Christian power. 
Upon the work of the Holy Spirit we rest our hope ; without this 
he was weak. A combination of some powerful families with the 
pope and the Franciscans, upon whom he had been specially severe, 
became too strong for him. The ridicule caused by the failure of 
the ordeal by fire, which he had proposed, added to his discomfiture. 
The need of the mediator is seen. Christ is needed in this world. 

Let us get a clear conception of the situation. Florence was wild 
with excitement. Five of her noblest citizens had been condemned 
to death. Savonarola had defended the part he took, saying : "You 
remember, my children, I besought you, when I should hold the 
sacrament in my hand in the face of you all, to pray, if this work is. 
not of God, that he will send a fire and consume me." 

His enemy caught at the suggestion, and from the pulpit answered, 
"Let Savonarola walk through the fire.*' If he come out unhurt, the 
divine origin of his doctrine would be demonstrated, but if fire con- 
sumed him, his falsity would be manifest. The Franciscan offered 
to accompany the Dominican. 

The day came. The fire was lighted. The Dominican was ready. 
Savonarola led the way. The Dominican bore a cross. They would 
not allow him to bear it into the flames. That given up, he held 
on to the sacrament. During the controversy as to whether he 
should carry this with him, the rain came and extinguished the 
flames. Savonarola went back to his convent, stripped of his pres- 
tige. Though he sought to save the people through the church, he 
failed. Paul described them : "They ^vere full of deceit and ma- 
lignitv ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, 
boasters, inventors of evil things, who, knowing the judgment of 
God, that they which commit such things. are worthy of death, not; 
onlv do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." 

Such were the Romanists to whom Savonarola preached ; such 
are Romanists to whom we do not minister. The doom of death, 
han^s over them, and no warninsfs are sounded in their ears. 

Look at Switzerland in the days of Zwingli. Tiiink of the bold-, 
ness with which they attacked this colossal monument of error. 
See Farel entering a Romish church and preaching Christ. The- 
priest at the altar goes on with the sei"vice celebrating the mass.. 



124 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

Suddenly Anthony Boyne, a young man, springs from the crowd, 
traverses the choir, rushes to the altar, snatches the host from the 
hands of the priest and cries, as he turns towards the people : "This 
is not the God whom you should worship. He is above in heaven 
and in the majesty of the Father, and not, as you believe, in the 
hands of a priest." (Vol. IV, p. 360, D'Aubigne Ref. ) 

Imagine the effecSt. The mass w.t ,. interrupted, the chantings ceased 
and the crowd, as if struck by a supernatural intervention, remained 
silent and noiseless. Farel, who was still in the pulpit, immediately 
took advantage of this calm and proclaimed that Christ, "whom the 
heaven must receive until the restitution of all things, is the being 
they should worship." Today Romanists are left undisturbed in 
their delusions. 

Alexander VI was pope. It is impossible to paint a picture too 
black for him. He has been justly called "one of the greatest and 
most horrible monsters in nature, whose beastly morals, immense 
ambition, insatiable avarice, deliberate cruelty, furious lusts, and even 
his incest with his daughter Lucretia, make him the synonym of all 
that is vile — a man who left no wickedness unpra6liced ; yet he was 
in the place of God, while Savonarola was pleading with men for the 
redemption of the church. 

A stream rises no higher than its fountain. Like priest, like peo- 
ple. We are wdiat ^ve tolerate. As a man thinketh in his heart, so 
is he. Romanists are ruined by Romish errors. Let a people ac- 
cept such terrible delusions and they pronounce their own doom. 
About us are millions thus deluded. How can they be reached and 
saved ? Who is constrained to preach to those in Rome also ? God 
grant that workers may be found. 

Savonarola disclosed the horrors of Romanism. He did not re- 
veal the remedy. He did not know^ it. Could he but have seen 
Christ as did the woman from Samaria, all Italy would have been 
helped. This gift of God is the need of millions in this land. They 
are out of Rome, and are atheists and what not. Only those in Christ 
are new creatures, and are the bearers of hope. Savonarola was true 
to truth as he knew it. He lived up to the light he had. When 
Luther was on his way to a post of peril some one handed him a 
portrait of the Italian martyr. Luther took it into his hands and 
pressed it to his lips, and paid a fitting tribute to the man who pro- 
claimed the gospel as best he could, and died a mart3'r to the system 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 1 25 

of error then in existence. Only the divine power of God can pen- 
etrate and illumine the night of Rome. 

The brave preacher uncovered Alexander VI. It did no good. 
Rome did not care for that. Like pope, like people. The masses 
flocked to hear the denunciations of the preacher. His words lacked 
the life of the gospel. It is the word of God that saves. Demolish 
Romanism, and but half the work is done. Proclaim the truth. Tell 
men of their need of Christ. Get them to receive him into their 
hearts, and then shall they have power to become the sons of God. 
It is Christ within that saves and that is the hope of glory. Let us 
embrace every opportunity to bring Romanists to Christ. He is 
their Saviour, as He is our Redeemer. 

We now see Savonarola in adversity. The great trial by fire had 
proven to be a farce. The preacher had refused to go on without a 
cross and without the wafer. The fickle public likes pluck. Its 
idol, lacking this, lacks all. Savonarola was condemned to banish- 
ment. He would not go, but shut himself up in the convent and 
^ave himself up to prayer and to the completion of his great Avork, 
the "Triumph of the Cross." The people turned from him. The 
hour for his persecutors had come. They refused to let him stay in 
retirement. He had no real friends. The reforms wrought by him 
were political and not spiritual. They had to do with the head and 
not with the heart. It is the religion of Christ thr.t saves, that be- 
gets love. It furnishes a foundation for hope. The enemies of the 
preacher planned an attack upon the convent. They found Savon- 
arola at prayer. They dragged him forth. They maltreated him. 
They gave him up to the Inquisition. The inquisitors tortured him 
with devilish ingenuity. They wrung, it is said, a confession from 
him that he wrought for great purposes affecting his own fame and 
the glory of the state. They compelled him to make, it is said, an 
admission that he was ambitious for power, for the place held by the 
pope, or for a higher one ; that he w^anted his influence to stretch 
out to other states and to lift the world to a new altitude. No one 
claimed that he was dishonest, impure or selfish. 

The pope demanded his surrender. The Florentines refused it, 
lout allowed the two papal delegates to share in the trial or manage 
it. The trial was held. The great preacher appeared without a de- 
fender and without a friend. He was not permitted to confront those 
v^^io brought charges against him. Sec him in the hands of the in- 



126 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

quisitors. He has borne indescribable tortures. His strength fails. 
He has not the help that comes from on high, which enabled the 
martyrs for Christ to sing for joy while the body "was enduring in- 
describable torture. Stephen, with his face mantled with glory even 
while being stoned to death, shows what the religion of Christ can 
do. Savonarola surrendered, and signed a paper which clouds his 
fame. It may have had its interpolations and erasures after he put 
his hand to it. The paper preserved declares him to have said : 

"I have preached w^ith the design of being famous in the present 
and future ages ; and that I might win credit in Florence ; and that 
nothing of great import should be done without my sanction." They 
who arecharged with ambition, whenever they lift their voices against 
wrong, know whence this came. ' 'And when I had thus established 
my position in Florence I had it in my mind to do great things in. 
Italy and beyond Italy, by means of those chief personages with 
whom 1 had contradled friendship and consulted on high matters, 
such as this of the general council. And in proportion as my first 
efforts succeeded, I should have adopted further measures. Above 
all, w^hen the general council had been brought about, I intended to- 
rouse the princes of Christendom, and especially those beyond the 
borders of Italy, to subdue the infidels. It was not much in my 
thoughts to get myself made a cardinal or pope ; for when I should 
have achieved the work I had in view I should, without being pope,, 
have been the first man in the world, in the authority I should have 
possessed and the reverence that would have been paid me. If I had 
been made pope I would not have refused the office ; but it seemed 
to me that to be the head of that work was a greater thing than to- 
be pope, because a man without virtue may be pope, but such a 
work as I contemplated demanded a man of excellent virtues." It 
is not improbable that these words express his ambitious purposes irt 
part. It was the habit of his mind to conceive great things and to- 
feel that he was the man to do them. "In moments of ecstatic con- 
templation, the sense of self melted in the sense of the unspeakable ;. 
but in actions the man spoke." 

Savonarola's crime consisted in demanding a general council to 
try the pope. 

There was no denying that concerning Alexander VI he told the- 
truth, and encountered his hate. As a patriot he hated the sins, the 
heinous crimes, of such a pope. Florence had heard him, and had 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. I 27 

well understood what he meant, when he said "that he would not 
obey the devil." It was a death struggle between the frater and the 
pope. He had labored for the very highest end — the moral welfare 
of men — not by vague exhortations, but by striving to turn belief into 
energies that would work in all the details of life. 

After suffering indescribable tortures, it is said he wailed out, "It 
is true, what you would have me say ; let me go, do not torture me 
again." After this he was left alone in his prison, and allowed a pen 
and ink for a while, that, if he liked, he might use his poor bruised 
and stricken arm to write with. He did not try to prove his inno- 
cence, nor did he protest against the proceedings used towards him ; 
it was a continued colloquy with that divine purity with which he 
sought complete reunion ; it was the outpouring of self-abasement ; 
it was one long cry for inward renovation. How poor Romanism 
looks in such a light. He knew nothing of the rest of faith exer- 
cised in Jesus Christ, apart from penance and human suffering. 

"After so many benefits," he writes, "with which God has hon- 
ored thee, thou art fallen into the depths of the seas ; and after so 
many gifts bestowed on thee, thou, by thy pride and vain glory, hast 
scandalized all the world." 

There was no bright outlook for him, as for Luther, Zwingli, Lat- 
imer, Ridley and others. Purgatory was beyond, and a church 
that hated him was to be his almoner. The best side of Romanism 
is a bad side. The hopes of Romanism are all deceptions. 

On May 23, 1498, a long narrow platform stretched across the 
great piazza. Above it rose a gibbet with three halters on it ; by 
one of them Savonarola was hung. Afterwards his body was burned. 
He was led out in Dominican garb. The bishop stripped off his 
black mantle and the white scapulary was laid aside. The man who 
had been the idol of the people found out how fickle is the goddess 
of public opinion. Yesterday he rode the wave of popularity ; to- 
day there is none so mean as to do him reverence. 

Contrast a reformation without Christ, a political revolution if you 
choose to name it, with a reformation with Christ or with a revival 
of religion. 

Rome cannot be overcome by law, nor by denunciation. If the 
work is achieved, we must preach the truth and introduce the de- 
luded to Jesus Christ. It must be expected that the vile, the char- 
acterless, the lovers of sin, will go to their own and will defend Rome. 



128 GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 

Be not disappointed at this. Christ said, "I am come to send fire 
on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled." 

Savonarola was slain because men loved sin rather than holiness,. 
in their carnal state. Alexander VI is the epitome of infamy. 
Romanists dare not apologize for him. He had every vice, and yet. 
because Savonarola opposed him and told the truth about him, he 
was put to death. 

The distress and calamity of those times are beyond all power of 
description. All sense of religion was extinguished, and profligacy 
went to such excesses that the most hardened became alarmed. 
Savonarola had lifted up his warning voice. He did not have the 
light of Wycliffe or of Luther. But he SjDoke the trutli as he had 
learned it. Rome had taken him in hand. We have seen his tor-^ 
tures and heard his cry. See him wrecked in frame, broken in 
heart, brought out before the multitude to die. Of course he is 
without pit}^, because he is among Romanists, w^ho know no pity. 
Oft' comes the white tunic that tslls of his sacred office. He stands 
in a close w£)olen under tunic that tells of no sacred office. He has 
been degrade:] and excommunicated. He had listened to his sen- 
tence. He had mounted the steps. He looked around upon the 
multitude. He saw torches waving to kindle the fuel beneath. 
His body was given up to death. His face was covered, and Savon- 
arola's voice passed into the eternal silence. Alexander VI had 
one less enemy, Rome one more martyr, and the world another il- 
lustration of the truth that Romanism, empty of Christ and a perse- 
cutor of the truth, hates those who proclaim it, whether they seek 
to remain true to Rome or, like Savonarola, seek to expose her shame 
and denounce her iniquities. 

The religion of Jesus Christ alone can save Romanists. Let it be 
our privilege to proclaim the truth while ^ve may, and save the lost 
as best we can. 



EDWARD McGLYNN, D. D., THE UN- 
FROCKED AND WHAT ? 



"Ye must be born again." John 3 : 7. 

In speaking of Edward McGlynn, the unfrocked priest and ex- 
communicated Roman Catholic, a fraternal regard and Christian 
love find a place in honest speech. It is not a time for trifling, nor 
for empty, meaningless platitudes. The undying interests of an im- 
mortal soul, perhaps of the souls of millions who will follow this 
man for good or ill, are at stake. 

When, on a late Sabbath eve, a little girl presented a flower piece 
bearing the words, "Purity of intention is the life of an adlion," Dr. 
McGlynn , replying, said : ' ' Could it have been whispered or thought 
of in my dreams, when prostrate before a Christian altar to be con- 
secrated to the priesthood, that I could be here tonight preaching in 
a theatre, it would have seemed like a horrid nightmare. To be 
torn from the altar, unseated from the tribune of the church and for- 
bidden to teach the Christ I love, would have seemed worse than 
a horrid nightmare. But now, shocking and painful as the experi- 
ence has been, I can say here, I believe it to be all for the best." 

These are sad words. They were spoken by one of America's 
remarkable men. It is because he is a manly man, that he is in 
ti'ouble in a church and with a church that finds no place in its sys- 
tem for manhood, for free, broad, noble and true development, for 
courage of expression and for a convidlion born of God ; that may 
come in conta6l w^ith the narrowness, the bigotry, the persecuting 
hate of a so-called church. 

In the olden time a man was in trouble. Fetters bound him to 
an establishment whose life was extin(5l and whose mission was 
ended. The world was being peopled with new life. A new king- 
dom was being established. Its free spirit w^as singing its new song 
and was filling the air with the notes of enlivening hope. The mas- 
ter spirit of the hour was near. Christ was in the world. Bless 

129 



130 EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 

God for Christ. There has been one leader among men who never 
trifled with their immortal interests. To him Nicodemus, a ruler of 
men, goes by night to see the mighty power and hear his words. 
Behold him in his presence. He speaks : "Rabbi, we know that 
thou art a teacher come from God ; for no man can do the miracles 
that thou doest, except God be with him." Well spoken, Nicode- 
mus. Happy art thou, happy were we all when we came to Christ 
that we were not deceived nor misled. 

Jesus said : "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
kingdom of God." Edward McGlynn is there. He has a love for 
Christ's character and an admiration for Christ's life ; but he has been 
unfortunate in his teacher, and so have millions more. They do not 
know their blindness, nor how sight is to come. It is to come by 
birth, and not by education nor by sacrament. Verily, ye must be 
born again. Before it comes nothing can be done. Here is where 
the unfrocked McGlynn is making a mistake. He has been assui'ed 
that he w^as of immense importance, as he is ; that he is worth more 
as a Roman Catholic, among Roman Catholics, than he w^ould be 
if separated from his old surroundings and brought into fellowship 
with new men and with new movements. The trouble is, he mixes 
things. McGlynn's eyes are not opened. He is in his heart dealing 
with the church of Rome, and talks of science and of scientists who 
have been persecuted, as if, somehow, their experiences paralleled 
his. They do not. He is dealing with a church that he saw^ was 
rotten, wrong, from top to bottom, or from bottom to top. He has 
no business to have any more to do with the church of Rome than 
had Paul with the Jewish church. It is his business to preach Christ 
to friend and foe, to open his heart and let Christ in, that he may have 
power to become a son of God, because of what God can do for him. 
Paul was wrong, and he said so. McGlynn has been wrong all his 
life. He has been a sinner unredeemed. He now needs thus to 
declare. This comes from believing on His name, and he "is born, 
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but 
of God." 

I. Asa Roman Catholic^ Edward McGlynn has finished his 
ivork. 

Have you ever thought how poor is a Roman Catholic .? Born in 
superstition ; taught to kiss the image of the Virgin lying on a 
mother's breast before he drinks the milk that nourishes him ; reared 



EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. I3I 

without a Bible, without a Christ, except it be a painted image — 
without the Christ that loved little children and laid his hands in 
blessing on them ; through falsehood and misconception made to 
believe that the dead Mary has something to do with an introdu6lion 
to the live, the compassionate and the helpful Christ — the one and 
only mediator between God and man ; then educated to rest faith 
in a church that is only good where it cannot be seen or known, and 
in a priesthood unconverted, unredeemed, and, as a rule, impure 
and as companions or associates undesirable : a Roman Catholic 
starts wrong, goes wrong, keeps wrong, dies deceived and goes 
down to pitiless wrath, without God and without hope. To en- 
courage a man, thus reared and thus conditioned, to keep saying 
''I am a Roman Catholic and shall so continue," is to shut him out 
of hope, banish him from improving society and compel him to walk 
in the night, even while the light of day is within his reach. 

Reasons were manifest to him that caused him to contend that if 
he remained a Roman Catholic he could help his friends in this way. 
They believed he could head a company of the disaffedied who are 
still in faith and in form Roman Catholics. He could become a 
leader of influence with the disaffedled among people who would not 
think of breaking out from the Roman Catholic church. How fool- 
ish the position. Policy is never so good a guide as principle. 

If Edward McGlynn is a Roman Catholic in faith and conviction, 
then he is an outcast. His mother and his kindred cannot safely 
break bread with him. 

''''Hear the church''' is the voice most strongly emphasized with a 
Catholic. The church speaks with authority through the pope. If 
Edward McGlynn is a Roman Catholic, then, by his own confession, 
he is utterly undone. If he is not, he is deceived. He is seeking 
to help men who, like himself, need help. 

Born in Ncav York in 1837, receiving his education in our public 
schools, graduating v^ith honor at the Propaganda in Rome, ap- 
pointed chaplain of the military hospital in Central Park, New York, 
by President Lincoln, and for many years the popular platform 
speaker and favorite orator, as well as pastor of St. Stephen's church, 
he ought to know better than to occupy this equivocal position. He 
cannot be in and out of the Roman Catholic church at the same time. 
He is not in. He is out. If he gets in, it must be by confession, 
and penance deep and long. It must be by denying manhood the 



132 EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 

right to free thought and to honest expression. What will he do? 
He must do something. He must move on. 

2, Edward McGlynn is not ivhat he thinks he is. 

He claims that he is a Roman Catholic, though excommunicated 
and cast out. He gives up St. Stephen's, but does not renounce 
Romanism. The fa6l is, when the manhood of Edward McGlynn 
rose up against the outrageous assumptions of the church, when he 
said, "I deny the right of bishop, Propaganda or pope to order me 
to Rome," he broke out and ceased to be a Roman Catholic. The 
vov/ and oath of a priest make him the slave of the pope in matters 
secular as well as religious. When he was told to build a parochial 
school he was under obligations to do so or leave the church. 

Rome condemns what she chooses and applauds what she chooses. 
She is a law to herself. Reason does not restrain her. McGlynn 
may admonish the Romish authorities of the folly and the shame of 
condemning scientific truth or religious heresy — a shame and a folly 
of which their predecessors had been guilty in the condemnation of 
Galileo and Copernicus — but it will do no good. It is because 
Romanism is the incarnation of error — inhabited and ruled by the 
prince of the power of the air, run by the devil, whose end is an 
eternal hell, a man being substituted in the place of God, a dead 
woman in the place of Jesus Christ, and sacraments, man-made and 
devil-invented, with sinful indulgence for their aim, to take the place 
of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the power of God among men — 
that it is indifferent to public opinion. When McGlynn outgrew 
this ; when he could turn and say of the church, "She seems fated 
to add another to the many reasons that have made men look upon 
ecclesiastical authority as one of the greatest foes of scientific progress, 
of national development and of rational liberty, and in large part a 
hindrance rather than a help, in the way of bringing the whole world 
to the light, the purity and the comfort that comes from the teach- 
ings and ministrations of Christ," — then he could say that Roman- 
ism was dead in him and he was ready for something else. Wliy did 
he not come out into the light ? Largely because the people en- 
couraged him to think he could go back to St. Stephen's, and many 
of the priests stood with him. It was a wild time, and has been a 
hard fight. 

His position on the public school question offended the digni- 
taries of the church, and gave him place and power with the people. 



EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 1 33 

They saw that he championed their interests ; that he beheved in 
the Irish or Roman Catholic boy being educated in the palatial 
public school and not banished to the basement of a church, 
permitted to come in conta6l with the free thought of the hour 
and not remanded to the dead past to be fed on catechisms and 
the relics of superstition. He opposed the legislature appropriating 
money for sectarian purposes, and he was opposed to giving the 
children of our penal institutions over to the teachings of a Romish 
priest. 

Besides he is an Irishman. In 1882, when misfortune dogged the 
Irish cause at every step, Edward McGlynn lifted up his voice for 
the starving people of the west of Ireland. Then it was that Cardi- 
nal Simeoni struck him. The battle went on, through suspension 
and proscription, until January 16, 1887, when the cablegram came 
ordering him to Rome. Then St. Stephen's took a hand, and 
believed that, in this free America, they who built the church could 
control it. Any other church could control its property ; Roman 
Catholics cannot do it. 

Two hundred and fifty millions are in the hands of the bishops. 
They can remove priests, banish them, and lock churches, hospitals 
and burying grounds against their people. 

It was a sad sight in St. Stephen's, when, on January 17, 1887, 
the low basement of the church was packed with a solid mass of 
men and women, standing either on the floor or on the benches. 
From seven to eight thousand people gathered to protest against the 
removal of Father McGlynn. Father Donnelly appeared in the 
passage way, saying, "I am pastor of St. Stephen's now, and I for- 
bid it." 

Over him went the people, shouting, "We own the church, and 
we have a perfect right here and shall hold a meeting here." The 
priest was shoved to the sidewalk. Angry, he sent for the police. 
Irish though they were, they would not strike their people. 

A free church in a free state ought to be McGlynn's battle cry. 
The people worshipping in St. Stephen's should call a meeting of 
contributors, ele6l their board of trustees and put McGlynn back. 
That would bring the issue before the people in New York, as it was 
done by the St. Louis church in Buffalo. That being done, then let 
McGlynn drive home the wedge, which Paul drove in Jerusalem, 
when to the Jews he proclaimed the crucified Christ whom they 



134 EDWARD MCGLYNNT, D. D. 

hated, whom he once hated, but whom he now gloried in before all 
comers. 

The people have stood with McGlynn. The powers that be in 
the church of Rome have persecuted him with devilish and insatiable 
hate. 

See McGlynn driven out of the parish built by him, and where for 
more than twenty years he found a home. 

Father Donnelly, the priest of St. Michael's, is commanded ta 
drive out the priest of St. Stephen's. How ruthless he is, how 
unsympathetic, how ungentlemanly. He goes to the church, tears 
down McGlynn's name from the confessional, comes into his room 
while McGlynn is gathering up his papers, and, though offered Dr. 
Curran's room, will not retire until fear of the women warriors drives 
him forth. The people love McGlynn. The authorities hate him, 
block his path and do all in their power to destroy him. Never was 
this truth so brought out as when the decree of excommunicatioa 
came and the people rose up against it. These are the words : 

"By the authority of the Omnipotent God, the Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost, and of the holy canons, and of the holy and undehled 
Virgin Mary, mother of God, and of all the celestial virtues, angels, 
archangels, thrones, dominions, powers, cherubim and seraphim^ 
and of the holy patriarchs, prophets, and of all the apostles and 
evangelists, and of the holy innocents who in the sight of the spot- 
less Lamb are found worthy to sing the new song, and of the holy 
martyrs, and of the holy confessors, and of the holy virgins, together 
with all the holy and ele6l of God — we excommunicate and anath- 
ematize this malefaftor [ here the person cursed is mentioned by 
name ] , and from the precincts of the holy Church of God we cast 
him out, that he may be tormented with everlasting torment. 

"May God the Father, who created man, curse him ! May God 
the Son, who was crucified for man, curse him ! May the Holy 
Ghost, which is poured out in baptism, curse him ! May the Holy 
cross, which Christ ascended for our salvation, triumphing over the 
enemy, curse him ! 

"May the holy Mary, ever virgin, mother of God, curse him I 
May Saint Michael, the advocate of holy spirits, curse him ! May 
all the angels and archangels, principalities and powers, and all the 
heavenly host, curse him ! 

"May the wonderful company of patriarchs and prophets curse 



EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 1 35 

him ! May Saint John the Baptist, the precursor of Christ, and 
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and Saint Andrew, and all the apostles 
of Christ, together with the rest of the disciples, and the four evan- 
gelists, who by their preaching converted the whole world, curse 
him ! 

"May he be cursed wheresoever he may be, whether in the house 
or in the stables, or in the road, or in the footpath, or in the wood, 
or in the v^ater, or in the church ! May he be cursed living, dying, 
drinking, eating, hungering, thirsting, fasting ! May he be cursed 
sleeping, slumbering, waking, standing, sitting, lying down, work- 
ing, resting, blood letting ! 

"May he be cursed in all the powers of his body! May he be 
cursed inwardly and outwardly ! May he be cursed in the hair ! 
May he be cursed in the brain ! May he be cursed in his head, in 
his temples, in his forehead, in his ears, in his cheeks, in his jaw- 
bones, in his nostrils, in his teeth, in his lips, in his throat ! May 
he be cursed in his shoulders, in his wrists, in his arms, in his hands, 
in his fingers, in his breast, in his heart and purtenances, down to 
his stomach ! May he be cursed in his groin, in his thigh, in his 
hips ! May he be cursed in his knees, in his legs, in his feet and in 
his nails ! 

"May Christ, the Son of the living God, with all the glory of his 
majesty, curse him ! And may Heaven, w^ith all the powers that 
move therein, rise up against him to his utter damnation, unless he 
recant and make satisfaction ! Amen. So be it, so be it. Amen.'* 

Such an utterance ought to suffice to show the American people 
the character of the Roman machine. In purpose, in heart and in 
spirit it is now what it was in the dark ages. Contrast such an ut- 
terance with the teachings of Christ and of Christianity. Do we 
fexciude a member, we simply put him back among the unconverted ; 
we do not persecute him. Think of Christ teaching us to pray 
for those who despitefully use us, and setting us an example by pray- 
ing for his murderers even while dying on the cross. 

Then Edward McGlynn's hour came. It was Sabbath eve, 
July lo, 1887, when the surging thousands attested their devotion 
in and about the Academy of Music, New York. Then it was he 
utterly and terribly failed to rise to the level of his great opportunity, 
when he talked of being summoned to answer for teaching scientific 
truth, and utterly forgot to uncover the Christ who died that he might 



1^6 EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 

live, and because of whose sheltering love and matchless power he 
had the opportunity to live and breathe outside of the cell of an in- 
quisition and apart from the rack of torture. 

When he said, "It is a notorious fa6l that religion is vanishing 
from every part of the world," he made a statement which is far 
from being true. The religion of Jesus Christ is mastering the 
world. It has led millions of Romanists out of bondage into liberty. 
McGlynn puts his head in a bag at high noon, and shuts his eyes and 
declares that the king of day has gone out of business. 

Here was his great opportunity to confess Jesus Christ as the 
way, the truth and the life, and to advise his people to accept 
the new leadership. It is pitiable to see a man who claims to 
have been a priest of God begin and end a meeting without a 
prayer. 

Just here the Christian people of this land must step up and 
take the work and go on with it. It is not enough that a Ro- 
man Catholic priest renounces his church. He must be born again. 
He must be brought into the fellowship of Christ's love. It is our 
business to preach the gospel to this people. It is ours to teach 
them to distinguish between the errors and crimes of the ecclesiasti- 
cal machine and that ideal church of Christ w^hose teachings have 
so advanced the world. 

A contumacious priest whose disobedience is open, avowed and 
even exasperating, could do one of two things — leave the church, as 
did Luther, or stay in the church and be excommunicated, as did 
Edward McGlynn. 

McGlynn is now unfrocked. He has no right to the priestly robe, 
to approach the altar, to hear a confession, or to enjoy a sacrament. 
All that the Roman Catholic church, from pope down througli every 
part of its great machine, can do to make an unending and a burn- 
ing hell a certainty for him has been done. 

Exclusion for any one is not pleasant. What is bound on earth 
is terrible. The averted look, the closed door of the sanctuary, to 
be exiled, to be cast out, to have friends afraid to communicate with 
you, is not an enjoyable experience. 

J. He professes to love Christ. 

He claims that he is forbidden to teach the Christ he loves. In 
.this he is deceived. He is invited to teach the Christ he loves. 
Does he love Christ.^ Does he know Christ.? Has he been born 



EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 1 37 

again? If so, Jesus Christ demands that he confess him ; that he 
come out from Rome ; that he be not a partaker of her sins and de- 
lusions, and that he receive not of her plagues — plagues which are 
yet to be emptied out upon her. To Edward McGlynn, and to all 
other Roman Catholics, Jesus Christ speaks, saying : "What I tell 
you in darkness, that speak ye in light ; and what ye hear in the ear, 
that preach ye upon the housetops." "Fear not them who kill 
the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear him who 
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." "Come unto me, ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "No 
man can serve two masters ; for either he will hate the one and love 
the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye 
cannot serve God and mammon." 

Confession of Christ at the cost of peace, and even of life, may be 
a duty. It cannot be right to negle6l to do it. Christ says : "Who- 
soever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before 
my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me be- 
fore men" ( and men deny, when they say they can be saved in any 
other way than by faith in him) "him will I also deny before my 
Father who is in heaven." 

"This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which 
is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any 
other ; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, 
whereby we must be saved." A6ls 4:11, 12. 

Hence Christ says : "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him 
will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven." Matt. 10 : 33. 

It matters not though it provokes opposition and results in per- 
secution. Go on ; speak the truth. Duty is ours ; consequences 
belong to God. 

The task is not easy. To obey Jesus Christ will cost Edward 
McGlynn dear. Romanism is terrible because of what it is and be- 
cause of what it does. 

A converted Catholic priest has just returned from Ireland. He 
went there to visit his mother. She welcomed him with joy. The 
brother came and said : "You can't stop here. If the priest of the 
parish knew you were here you would be killed at sight ; my house 
would be burned if he knew I gave you shelter." That is the Ro- 
manism which Gladstone serves, and which England is asked to give 
up her prestige, her mission and her life to serve. 



138 EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 

The Bible in Jesus Christ — the w ay, the truth and the Hfe — leads 
by the power of love, of neighborly kindness, of charity which 
thinketh no evil. 

Romanism goes the other way, and is full of hate. It teaches the 
priest at the altar, the child at the hearthstone, that any harm or in- 
jury done to an opponent of the church is commendable. Youth 
are permitted to grow up unrestrained in passion or pradlice. They 
trample on the Sabbath, violate their word and set at defiance every 
law of the decalogue. The hoodlums in our great cities have this 
religion as their shelter and shield. They are wild, lawless, and 
grow up in crime, and as criminals and as members in good and 
regular standing of the Roman Catholic church, crowd our jails, re- 
formatories, institutions and penitentiaries ; and now, to complete 
their ruin, American and Christian men are consenting that the 
Roman Catholics be taken out of the enjoyment of the religious 
privileges which they need and be shut up to the idolatry of the mass 
and the worthlessness of the empty forms of the church. 

All this and more Edward McGlynn knows. It is his duty to 
say it, as only he can say it. Roman Catholics are helpless in 
America. No one preaches the gospel to them. They are barred 
out from us. Their children are shut out from our Sabbath 
schools, unless they are in some reformatory. They do not hear 
from God out of his word in the day school. They are taught to go 
to mass on Sabbath morning, and that it is not a sin to give the rest 
of the day up to drinking and dissipation. They crowd the resorts, 
play base ball, get up prize fights here instead of cock fights and 
bull fights as in Mexico, and so they crowd the broad road to death, 
without a warning or an inspiration to lead the better life. Roman- 
ism is not good enough for Romanists. Edward McGlynn knows 
it and ought to say it, as much as I or any other faithful and true man 
whose eyes have been opened. 

4. What is to be the outcome of his life? Either failure or a 
surrender to God and a public profession of a faith in Jesus Christ. 
To become a failure, he need only remain where he is. He knows 
that the pope is not an infallible guide or God. He ought to avow 
the truth. He knows that the church is filled with people who 
need to be born again. To him, as to no other man, their ears are 
open. It is a great privilege to speak a word which millions will 
hear. Dr. McGlynn enjoyed that privilege. Since the days 



EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 



139 



of Martin Luther, on no man have devolved such fearful responsi- 
bilities as have rested upon him. The world will little note nor long 
remember what many of us say here ; but it will note and long re- 
member what this man shall say or leave unsaid. He must con- 
fess or deny Christ. He must move on, either to a position of un- 
paralleled influence or to one of imbecility. Christ Jesus is his 
greatest need. It should be the prayer of all who pray that our 
Lord may find a welcome to this man's soul, that he may have 
power to become a son of God. Then will he scorn wealth, 
power and numbers, and will walk out upon the promises of Jeho- 
vah, and, standing upon a Thus saith the Lord, will defy the world. 
The gospel, the love, the help of Jesus Christ is the need of Ro- 
manists. Mighty issues begin to engage attention. It is proven 
that free thought cannot be tolerated by Romanists in Rome or in 
America. The pretense that Romish priests are forbidden to mix 
in political contests is only a pretense. In the old world, as in the 
new, they have worked as slaves, but, with few exceptions, none 
have been permitted to act the part of freemen. The cardinal can 
ring his bell, and cause the ballots of his people to be thrown for the 
man or the party he chooses to serve. It is this that makes Roman- 
ism a factor in politics which has to be counted and estimated. It is 
this which makes it worth ^vhile for men who seek positions of power 
to court the influence of those who control the Roman Catholic vote. 
There are members in congress, at this hour, because of their bar- 
gain- with a priest. It is because it is believed that McGlynn 
can lead a great number of the disaftected Roman Catholics that 
he is urged, for the sake of politics, to deny his Lord and remain a 
nominal Catholic, while duty demands that he rise to a higher 
plane, and lead his fellow-men first to obey God and then to serve 
men. 

An opportunity is furnished McGlynn to stand boldly in favor of 
the word of God in the home and in the school. America needs 
that Bible truths be lodged in the minds and hearts of youth. The 
Bible Luther found chained to the altar is now unchained. The 
reception of the word of God into the heart giveth light. It needs 
to be welcomed and read and used, and it will, become a po^ver in 
the land. 

The Bartholdi statue was built and dedicated. For a time it "was 
unlighted, and was a failure. The nation took it in hand and the 



140 EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. 

light was kindled. The nation without the Bible is a failure. 
That light is essential to the well being of the people. It is the 
light that lightens the world. Romanists need it as much as Prot- 
estants. The attempt to blot it out or to extinguish it is the begin- 
ning of the destru6lion of religious liberty. That gone, Romanism 
is without a protedlor. The theory of the world is the reverse of 
this. Men talk about Romanism as though it were tolerating Prot- 
estantism. Seven, millions do not tolerate fifty millions. They are 
tolerated. Rome would be the first to suffer if religious liberty in 
America should die. The masses in America are exiles from lands 
where Romanism is regarded as the tap-root of despotism. Dr. Mc- 
Glynn owes it to Roman Catholics to sound the note of alarm and 
warn them of their peril. The chart of Rome's future is boldly 
drawn. "For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath 
remembered her iniquities," and has commanded, saying, "Re- 
ward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double 
according to her works ; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her 
double. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and 
mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for 
strong is the Lord who judgeth her." Would that McGlynn could 
see this. — Then would he flee the desolation, and ^would refuse longer 
to wear the collar of a slave, forced on him by those not loyal to the 
truth, but w^ould come into the fellowship of Christ's love and join 
the brotherhood of the redeemed and stand with a multitude no man 
can number, of those who confess Christ here and serve him with 
delight, and shall cast their crowns at his feet in the better land, 
without passing through purgatory, because they have been washed 
and made clean in the blood of the Lamb. For the tried, perse- 
cuted and unfrocked priest, I have only sympathy and anxiety. He 
is adrift. He is lost if he is without Chi'ist and the new birth. — He 
stands upon the verge of a life that may have in it the rewards 
which come to a Paul or to a Judson. 

Stay where he is, dabble in politics, mingle with the Sabbath- 
desecrating crowd, keep with the men who reje(5l Christ, and there 
is for him less and less the respe6l of the true. God cannot use 
him as an apostle, Christ cannot be to him an Inspiration, 
and he will walk in a w^ay that shall increase in shadow^s and shall 
end in temporal and eternal night. There is a better mission for 
him. A great brotherhood opens its arms, a field of immeasurable 



EDWARD MCGLYNN, D. D. I4I 

usefulness stretches out before him, such as came to Father Chlni- 
quy or Gavazzi, men who renounced the errors of Rome, and have told 
the people why, even while to all they have said : "Be ye followers 
of me, even as I follow Christ." 




EDWARD McGLYNN, D. D. 



THE CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 



''And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there 
shall be no night there." Rev. 21 : 25. 

There are utterances that sound through the community like the 
reverberation of a cannon shot over the surface of a quiet lake. 

On Thursday morning, Dec. 9, 1886, two fadts startled the reflecSl- 
ing people. One was the head line " The Cathedial Door Shut ;' 
the other was the announcement that a distinguished priest of the 
Roman Catholic church had been silenced and called to Rome 
because he had championed the cause of labor, despite the opposi- 
tion of his archbishop. 

These fa6ls re-introduced the American people to the despotism 
of Rome. It is not dead. It may be latent. It may be quiet. It 
is not dead. Let us tell the truth. Ex- Judge Henry Alker died in his 
home, 46 West 55th street, New York, Nov. 23, 1886. It 
was announced that he w^as to be buried from the cathedral. The 
notice was repeated on Nov. 25. On Nov. 26, the place of 
burial was given as St. Leo's church, and there it occurred. Un- 
dertaker Hart gave as an explanation that the notice that the 
funeral was to take place at the cathedral was due to a blunder on 
his part. Efforts were made to conceal the truth. In vain. This 
is America. It is now known that the funeral was not held at the 
cathedral because Archbishop Corrigan refused to allow the services 
to take place there, and the archbishop refused because Mr. Alker 
became one of the board of governors of the "house of refuge" 
on Randall's island. Judge Alker stood with America against 
Rome, and Rome seeks his destruction and defamation. 

Nathaniel Jar\4s, Jr., one of the managers of the "house of 
refuge," also a Roman Catholic, declares that, early in the year 
1886, the archbishop asked that the board appoint a committee to 
confer with Vicar-General Quinn and Chancellor Preston, on the 
"freedom of v^orship" question, and see if it could not be arranged 
that the Catholic inmates of the house should enjoy their own 

H3 



144 ^^^ CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 

religious sei-vice. The request was read at a full meeting, not in- 
cluding Judge Alker. It was unanimousl} decided that the presi- 
dent of the board, John A. Weeks, should respe6lfully advise the 
archbishop that, according to the principles of the institution and 
the laws under which it was organized and carried on, such a 
request could not be granted. The institution, it was stated, was 
non-sectarian and must so remain, at least as far as the power of the 
managers was concerned. 

This reply greatly displeased the archbishop, and it is said that 
he declared that no Catholic member of the board should ever be 
buried from the cathedral, as long as he remained archbishop. 
As Judge Alker was the first to die, the doors of the cathedral were 
shut. Said thousands of so-called Roman Catholics one to another : 
' 'What matters it wdiere we die or where we are buried ? It is how 
we live and how v\^e die that tells the story." The gospel of Christ 
w^as behind the utterance. This is the truth. When the soul 
passes out of its tabernacle of clay, then it is at God's disposal, 
not at the disposal of a church, or of a priest, or of an archbishop, 
or of a pope. Glory be to God ! 

"Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," said Jesus to the 
repentant thief, notwithstanding murderous Jews or jeering pagans 
stood round about. Purgatory is a pagan lie. There is no warrant 
in the word of God for the deluding doctrine. It is life that tells. 
If Judge Alker trusted in the merits of the atoning sacrifice of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, he is saved, no matter if the doors of the cathe- 
dral were shut against him. 

In heaven it may be one of the facts to glory over, that he stood 
for poor friendless boys at Randall's island, and declared they 
should not be delivered over to the superstitions and practices of the 
miscalled church of Rome ; but that in this land, where the current of 
free thought runs, in this land vi^here God has kindled liberty's 
light that enlightens the world, they shall have an opportunity to 
drink from the fountains of knowledge. They shall be taught to 
read and to write. They shall have gospel instruction. They 
shall be informed of the existence, of the character, and of the 
contents of the word of God. They shall grov7 up under the 
fostering care of free thought and of the stimulating life that ani- 
mates our people, that enlarges the bounds of science, and that clears 
away the mist so that they may know and see God. 



THE CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 145 

So said Judge Alker by his acflion, and, for thus declaring, when 
he died the cathedral doors were shut against him. Murderers, 
thieves, outlaws, can be buried from there, because they died in the 
faith and supported the church, but not a Christian man, who 
sought to save the youth from instru6lion wdiich gives its consent 
to lying, to thieving, or to any crime, providing it helps the church. 

What shut the door? Not Christian love, but pagan hate. The 
Evangelical Alliance makes a mistake when the Roman Catholic 
church is treated as a part of the Christian world. It is the oppo- 
nent of the Christian world, and the pope, as its head, is rightly 
called the "Man of Sin." It is the "mystery of iniquity." 

Romanism is paganism in a new garb. Here let some one else 
speak. John Henry Newman, now a cardinal, who through the 
door of ritualism passed from Protestantism to Romanism, says: 
"The holy water and some other elements of the Roman Catholic 
ritual were the very instruments and appendages of demon worship, 
aftei-wards sanctified by adoption into the church." Romanists 
turn to the east when they pray, as did the rebels against God in the 
days of Ezekiel (Ezek. 8 : i6), when twenty-five men, between the 
porch and the altar, with their backs tow^ard the temple of the Lord, 
turned their faces towards the east and worshipped the sun. The 
sign of the cross came from Tau, the initial letter of Taumuz, 
which was used in Babylonish worship and emblazoned on Baby- 
lonish garments, 1500 years before the crucifixion of Christ. 
(Hislop's Two Babyions, pp. 323 and 234. ) 

The holy wafer is referred to in Jer. 7:18, where the Israelites 
confess : "We burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured 
out drink offerings unto her, and we did make our cakes to worship 
her." Here the pedigree of the wafer is suggested. The cake was 
round, because it was an imag^e or eflQsrv of the sun, and was wor- 
shiped as such, and when it became installed as part and parcel of 
Christian worship this shape was strenuously insisted on, and is to 
this day. 

John Knox, in referring to this fa6t, says, with his usual vigor of 
speech : "If, m making, the roundness of the ring be broken, then 
must another of his fellow cakes receive the honor to be made a god, 
and the crazed or cracked miserable cake that was once in hopes to 
be made a god must be given to a baby." 

For all of this mummery seen in Roman Catholic churches, there 



1^6 THE CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 

is not one line of warrant in the word of God. It is our duty to 
tell the people the truth, knowing that the truth w411 make them 
free. The lighted candles about the altar come from Babylonish 
worship, as described in Baruch. Of the gods which they set up in 
their temples, it is said that " Their eyes be full of dust through the 
feet of them that come in, and worshipers light for them candles.'^ 

In the pagan worship of Rome, borrowed largely from Assyria 
and Egypt, we have accounts of processionals in which surpliced 
priests marched with wax candles in their hands, carrying the images 
of their gods ; and in the fourth century a Christian writer ridicules 
the pradice of lighting candles to gods, as if they lived in the dark ; 
showing that such a custom then formed no part of Christian 
worship. 

The confessional is borrowed in like manner, and, though adopted 
by Romanists, is still pagan. 

When they who laid the foundations of the so-called church of 
Rome turned away from Christ, they resembled the drunken man 
w^ho saw his companion wallowing in the gutter. He cried to him : 
"Lift me up.'* " That I can't do," repliad the drunken man, "but 
this I will do, I \vill get down beside you." 

They turned from Christ, and when pagans asked their aid to 
climb up they said: "We cannot lift you up, having let go of 
Christ ; but we will go down to you, adopt your pradlices, and cover 
the iniquities of the past with the mantle of our approbation by 
adopting them into the ritual of the church." 

The two root-errors of Romanism are baptismal regeneration 
and transubstantiation. Romanists claim that every child sprinkled 
in infancy belongs to the church of Rome. Give Rome her way 
at Randall's island, and children who had a birth in a Methodist, 
a Presbyterian, or any Protestant home will be claimed and held as 
members of the church of Rome ; will be shut out of the amelior- 
ating influences of the institution, and will be bound hand and foot 
and handed over to Rome. Against this view Protestants protest, 
but In accordance with this view Romanists move forward. Tran- 
substantiation is the crowning error in the process of satanic in- 
spiration. It avows that the priesthood possesses the divine power 
to locate the Lord Jesus Christ on an earthly altar, and to lift him 
up, under the veils of bread and wine, for the adoration of the 
people. 



THE CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 1 47 

It is in this blasphemous fraud that the Apostle Paul's prophecy 
finds its accurate fulfilment. This is the lie which men are to be- 
lieve. Rev. A. J. Gordon says, in his "The Prophetic Conference :" 
"Admitting that ritualism is of pagan origin, what is the conclusion 
to which we are brought ? To this : That b}^ its revival in the 
church there is a repetition of that sin which God so constantly 
denounces in the Scriptures as an abomination — the mingling of the 
worship of demons with the worship of God !" 

Here we go expressly by the book. In Deut. 32 ; 17, where the 
Israelites are charged with provoking the Lord to jealousy by strange 
gods, the ground of offence is declared to be that they sacrificed 
unto devils and not unto God. In the Septuagint version of Psalm 
96 : 5, it reads : "For all the gods of the nations are demons." In 
I Cor. 10 : 20, it is written : " The things which the Gentiles sacri- 
fice they sacrifice unto demons and not unto God, and I would not 
that ye have fellowship with demons." And yet millions in this 
land are worshiping demons in the guise of saints, and are turning 
from the Lord their God to heathenish idolatry. Today the infidel, 
socialistic and atheistic elements find their anti-Christ personified in 
the pope of Rome. " Under the supposition that behind the scene 
it is Satan who is the real pope, and his subordinate demons who 
are the real cardinals — that just as through the mystery of godli- 
ness the Holy Spirit became incarnated in the body of Christ to 
guide and enlighten it, so through the mystery of iniquitv the spirit 
of evil became incarnated in the great apostacy to inspire it wath all 
deceivableness of unrighteousness." (Prophetic Conference, p. S'j.) 

We ought to stand by Christ, proclaim the truth, and defend it 
against all comers. 

Trace the history of the ceremonies of the church of Rome back 
to their original source, and you land in pagan Rome and find, as 
Cardinal Newman asserts, that they use " the veiy instruments and 
appendages of demon worship." Imagine the exultation of. these 
demons as they see Christian priests clothed in their paraphernalia, 
marching in their idolatrous processions and preaching their delu- 
sive doctrines. And how must their joy be enhanced by the antici- 
pation of the yet greater triumphs still to come in the culmination 
of idolatry and man- worship, now that the Evangelical Alliance, 
embodying, as it is claimed, the Protestant sentiment of the times, 
speaks of the so-called Roman Catholic church as a part of Christen- 



148 THE CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 

dom, and deserving of the sa;ne respe^ at the hands of the legis- 
lature as any religious denomination. 

How must the Man of Sin laugh to scorn the idiocy cf the news- 
papers that treat Romanism as a part of Christianity, and those 
Christian ministers who dare not go farther than claim the right to 
keep the house of refuge an unsectarian institution. 

Romanism, that makes two-thirds of all our criminals, has no 
business to enter our penal institutions as instru6for of the young. 

Baptized paganism stands across the path of American progress, 
and declares that our public schools, which are largely manned by 
Roman Catholic teachers, or by those afraid to oppose Rome, are 
unworthy of Catholic support. Its bishops order that Catholic 
schools be built in every parish, and tlien, through their political 
power, claim the right to take charge of their owni membership 
wearing prison garb in our penal institutions, and to keep them from 
the only opportunity to be blessed by the influences of the gospel. 

Reared and trained amid the institutions of Rome, they become 
criminals. Keep them under those mtiuences, and they will come 
out of prison more hardened than they went in, ready for criminal 
attempts Avhich shall imperil society. Here, then, Americans con- 
front their responsibilities. Call Romanism by its true name, in 
the state legislature, in the pulpit, and in the press. Fight it bold- 
ly as an error, because the "Man of Sin" is the embodiment of its 
life, and delusion and deception are the characteristics by which it 
is known. Let the truth be told about it, and its power will die. It 
is the enemy of God and of righteousness. 

Bad and brave is Romanism. In the Catholic Review of Nov. 
27, 1886, the reformatory Is called a graduating school for cunning 
young thieves. Then complaint is made that religious publications 
are distributed in the institution. Then the question is asked ot 
Nathaniel Jarvis, Jr., and ex- Judge Henry Alker, why such publi- 
cations are subscribed for ? 

On the day that Review was published, the doors of the cathedral 
were shut against the inanimate body of Judge Alker. It w^as a 
sad sight. It means that the spirit which kindled the martyr fires 
in the olden time is still alive. Thev dare not, because they cannot, 
act here as in Europe. "That such publications are allowed to 
circulate at all in the house of refuge is certainly an outrage on the 
part of Catholic inmates," says the Review. 



THE CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 1 49 

It is, indeed, alarming to Romanists. The New Testament is 
also under the ban, and any book calculated to open blind eyes and 
to unstop deaf ears will be shut out of the schools where Romanists 
have control. What are we to do ? Preach the truth ! Tell Romanists 
to come out of Rome and be not partakers of her sins. Heaven 
is not under the control of Rome. Its doors are open to every be- 
liever in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether in the church of Rome or 
out of it. If Judge Alker believed in Christ and stood for Christ, 
they may shut the door of the cathedral against him, but they can- 
not shut the door of heaven. Tell it to everybody in free America. 
This is our opportunity. The morning cometh, and also the night. 
There will be an end of opportunity. We have it now. A terrific 
conflict is upon us. Baal- worship, the worship of any form of 
idolatry, is devil-worship. 

Ye cannot sei-ve God and mammon. You can tell which 
side you are on. Are you afraid to attack Rome? to call it 
the "mystery of iniquity," the "Man of Sin" ? Are you in alliance 
with its devotees ? Then beware ! 

There is peril in the air. God says : "Go through the midst of 
the city, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh 
and ciy for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." 
They that are redeemed are safe. All others are in danger. 
You may be in the church, but if you are in revolt you are in 
peril. Where are you, professor? Are you enjoying your first 
love, or are you building simply on a memory ? 

If so, get back. You cannot go in advance of your personal ex- 
perience. You cannot carry people beyond yourself. The world 
wants not somebody who tells what the scriptures teach, but some- 
body who illustrates them. Divine men are the need of the hour. 
There are oroino^ to be some funerals. God's siftino-time has come. 
It begins at the sanctuary. The blood of souls is found on the 
skirts of the garments of those who have betrayed God. Roman 
Catholics must abandon all hope through a church which finds its 
chief characteristics in pagan forms and ceremonies ; they must 
turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Tell this to them. 
Go to them. Get it before them, and then pray for them. 

Ritualism, which is becoming fashionable, is a desperate attempt 
on the part of the enemy to regain for Satan what was wrested 
from him in the Reformation. "It is," said Dr. Gordon, "a scheme 



150 THE CATHEDRAL DOOR SHUT. 

«o fascinating, that already many of the very elect have been cle* 
ceived by it, and are being led back to Rome, as sheep to the 
slaughter." We take up the Trinity Catechism of Dr. Dix, and find 
it streaked through and through w^ith the tinge of the scarlet 
woman — baptismal regeneration — eucharistic sacrifice — apostolic 
succession— prayers for the dead — intercession of departed souls — 
while at the same time its eminent author becomes so enamored of 
the papacy that he draws away from all Protestant bodies and 
embraces her, declaring that the three chief branches of the holy 
catholic church are the church of Rome, the Greek church and 
the Anglican church, and that the body thus formed is the true 
church catholic, ""because she endures throughout all ages, teaches 
all nations, and maintains all truth ;" forgetful that the pedigree of 
the devil outdates that of Romanism, and that his forms of worship, 
practiced by Romanists, are as old as the race. 

When we find Protestant ecclesiastics so smitten with what the 
reformers used to call "the trinklets of anti-Christ," as to allow 
themselves to be re-invested with the cast-off clothing of Babylon,- 
and to be adorned with mitre and cloth-of-gold orphreys lavishly 
decorated with amethysts, pearls, topazes and chrysolites set in 
silver, so as to dazzle the beholder, as was the bishop of Lincoln 
recently, we are moved to repeat the warning of Bradford, the 
Smithfield martyr, who cried: "O Christian, beware of anti- 
Christ, take heed that he doth not fool thee." 

When Satan offered Christ all the kingdoms of the world, if he 
v^ould fall down and worship him, he refused, accepting present 
rejection and crucifixion, and waiting the Father's time for the king- 
doms of the world to become the kingdo ms of our Lord and of his 
Christ. The papal church accepted the kingdoms of this world, 
and became the harlot bride of anti-Christ, accepting an earthly 
throne and a present glory, boasting: "I sit a queen, and am no 
vs^idow, and shall see no sorrow." 

Be not affrighted. In a little time He that shall come will come, 
and will not tarry ; the Lord shall consume this power of anti-Christ 
with the breath of his mouth, and shall destroy it with the bright- 
ness of his coming. You journey toward the city which is light- 
ened by the glory of God, and the gates of it shall not be shut at all 
by day, and there shall be no night there. They shall be open 
forever. The grace of our Lord Jesus Chi'ist be with you. Amen. 




LEO XIII. 
Born at Carpineto, Italy, March i8io. 



LEO XIII IN AMERICAN POLITICS. 



The pope has uncovered, in his encycHcal, the Hfe-long purpose 
of the church of Rome. For it, Americans should be grateful : 
Romanists, because they have a ''Thus saith the pope'' for political 
activity and for unanimity in action ; and Protestants, because there 
is no disguise. To be forewarned should enable us to be fore- 
armed. 

There are, it is said, between six and seven millions of Roman 
Catholics in the United States. An eftbrt has been made to divide 
that vote. It cannot be done, with the pope's consent. They are 
to vote every time for Rome, The only way for the lion and the 
lamb to lie down together is for the lion to eat the lamb. This the 
lion has tried to do. This task the lion believes it has almost ac- 
complished. Romanism is for education in Massachusetts, and 
against it in Louisiana, and yet is consistent with the pope's encyc- 
lical. It is for temperance in Iowa and opposed to it in New 
York. There as here, and here as there, the majority of the rum- 
sellers are Romanists, but the need is the same. Take the state 
and hold it for Rome, no matter under what flag, is the injun6lion 
of Leo XIII. 

Not to know this is, at the present time, our fault. When men 
have said, hitherto, that there were millions of voters in this coun- 
try who waited to hear from Rome before they accepted their 
ballot, it w^as called a statement made to frighten the timid and to 
hold the people by the grip of sectarian prejudice. In the encyc- 
lical of the pope, delivered Nov. i, 18S5, and spread broadcast 
before the eyes of the American people Nov. 26 — the day devoted 
to national thanksgiving — all this and more is said ; aye, all this 
and more is commanded. Let us briefly re-state some of the posi- 
tions taken, and ans\ver, as best w^e may, regarding what is duty. 

There is much in the paper to which all can give assent. All 
believe that God seeks the salvation of souls ; that Christians should 

15.3 



154 ^^O ^"^ ^^ AMERICAN POLITICS. 

be intent on the same purpose ; that it pays to sei-ve God ; "that re- 
ligion secures, even in this world, advantages so many and so great, 
that it could not do more, even if it had been founded primarily 
and specially to secure prosperity in this life." To all this every 
Christian can say "Amen!" The next sentence, however, con- 
tains statements to which history will utter its dissent. He says : "In 
truth, wherever the church has set her foot, she has at once 
changed the aspe6l of affairs, colored the manners of the people as 
with new virtues and a refinement unknown before. As many 
people as have accepted this have been distinguished for their gen- 
tleness, their justice and the glory of their deeds." 

The persecution of the Waldenses, the murder of Coligni, the 
Saint Bartholome\v massacre, the banishment by murder and exile 
of more than a million of Huguenots from the soil of France, with 
the consent and approbation of the pope, proves that Leo XIII 
thinks that the American people either are in great ignorance or 
have short memories. 

The pope explains the persecutions of the past by calling them 
"the punishments of God." While he admits that the right of 
ruling is not necessarily conjoined with any special form of com- 
monwealth, he enjoins upon his subjects "the duty to take posses- 
sion of all kinds of governments, and to hold them to the glory of 
the pope and the good of the church." 

He claims that the Roman Catholic is the true religion, and that 
other forms of worship are to be tolerated when they cannot be 
extinguished. Against private judgment in matters of faith he 
utters his dissent: "For when the conduct of affairs is in accord- 
ance with the do6lrines of this kind, to the Catholic name is 
assigned an equal position with, or even an inferior position to, 
that of alien societies in the state ; no obedience to ecclesiastical 
law, and the church, which by the command and mandate of 
Jesus Christ ought to teach all nations, finds itself forbidden in any 
way to interfere in the instruction of the people." Hence, the de- 
sire for a "freedom of. worship" bill, which takes Romanists out 
of the reach of the ameliorating influences of the gospel, in our 
penal institutions, and surrenders all who have been christened in 
infancy into the hands of the church that recognizes criminals as 
members in good standing in an organization claimed by them to 
be infallible. 



LEO XIII IN AMERICAN POLITICS. 1 55 

Mixed jurisdiction in America is as odious to a Romanist as it 
was to Leo X in Europe. Rome claims absolute possession of 
church property, and will not share its control or direction with the 
people. "From the decision of the pope it is clearly to be under- 
stood that the origin of public power is to be sought from God 
himself and not from the multitude ; that the free play for sedition is 
repugnant to reason ; that it is a crime for private individuals 
and a criine for states to observe nowhere the duties of religion." 
This stab at religious liberty, and at the toleration which made 
it possible for the Roman Catholic church to ere(?t her altars in 
Puritan Boston, or in Quaker Philadelphia, or in Dutch New 
York, ought not to be overlooked nor forgotten. 

Romanists unblushingly assert : " Give us the power and religious 
liberty dies.'' The pope says it. He claims "that the uncon- 
trolled right of thinking and publicly proclaiming one's thoughts is 
not inherent in the rights of citizens, nor in any sense to be placed 
among those things which are worthy of favor or patronage." Also, 
"that the church in jurisdidiion is above the state, but in mixed 
jurisdiction there should be harmony, and that government should 
only be tolerated in which there is nothing repugnant to Catholic 
doctrine." "In truth, the church judges it not lawful that the vari- 
ous kinds of divine worship should have the same right as the true 
religion." 

No freedom of worship where Rome is master, but where Rome 
is not master the church does not condemn those governors of 
states who, foii^the sake of acquiring some great good or preventing 
some great ill, patiently bear w^ith manners and customs, so that 
each kind of religion can have its place in the state. "Indeed, the 
church is wont to diligently take heed that no' one be compelled, 
against his will, to embrace the Catholic faith." This is a good ut- 
terance for this clime. It ignores the terrible persecuting spirit of 
the past. It contradicts history and the utterances of Romanists. 
Cardinal Manning recently said : "I acknowledge no civil power. 
I claim to be the supreme judge and director of the consciences of 
men. I am sole, last and supreme judge of what is right and 
wrong. Moreover we declare, affirm, define and pronounce it to be 
necessary to salvation to every human creature to be subje6t to the 
Roman pontiff." (Tablet, Oa. 9, 1864. ) 

"No good government can exist without religion, and there can 



156 LEO XIII IN AMERICAN POLITICS. 

be no religion without an inquisition which is wisely designed for 
the promotion and protection of the true faith." (Boston Pilot. ) 

Romanism is an oath-bound system. "The general of the 
Jesuits insists on being master, sovereign over the sovereign." 
Wherever the Jesuits are admitted they will be masters, cost what 
it may. Their society is by nature dictatorial, and therefore it is the 
irreconcilable enemy of all constituted authorit}-. 

"Every a(5l, every crime, however atrocious, is a meritorious work 
if committed for the interests of the society of the Jesuits, or by the 
order of its general." 

It is because of this fa6t that the Jesuits have been banished from 
every kingdom in Europe in turn, and are now forbidden a home in 
Germany. And yet in the United States they are welcomed and 
obeyed. 

Rome is outspoken and says-: "The Catholic religion with all 
its votes ought to be exclusively dominant in such sort that every 
other worship shall be banished or interdicted." (Pius IX Allocu- 
tion, September, 1851.) 

"You ask if the pope were lord of this land, and you were 
in a minority, w^hat he would do to you ? That, we say, would 
entirely depend on circumstances. If it would benefit the cause, 
he would tolerate you ; if expedient, he would imprison and banish 
you, probably he might even hang you. But be assured of one thing, 
he would never tolerate you for the sake of your glorious jDi'in- 
ciples of civil and religious liberty." (Rambler, one of the most 
prominent of the Catholic papers of England, September, 1851.) 

Lord A6ton, one of the Roman Catholic peers of England, re- 
proaching the bloody and anti-social laws of his own church, 
wrote: "Pope Gregory VII decided it w^as no murder to kill ex- 
communicated persons." "This rule was incorporated in the 
canon laws. During the revision of the code, which took place in 
the 1 6th century, and which produced a whole volume of correc- 
tions, the passage was allowed to stand. It appears in every report 
of the Corpus Juris. It has been for 700 years, and continues to 
be, part of the ecclesiastical law. Far from being a dead letter, 
it obtained a new application in the days of the Inquisition ; and one 
of the later popes has declared that the murder of a Protestant is so 
good a deed that it atones and more than atones for the murder of a 
Catholic." (The London Times, July 20, 1872.) 



LEO XIII IN AMERICAN POLITICS. 1 57 

These are all old utterances, say some. Rome has changed and 
is changing, it is claimed. American institutions are modifying her 
chara6ler and changing her spirit, it is believed. Be not deceived. 
It is the boast of Rome thr-t she changes not. 

Father Chiniquy, for many years a devoted priest of Rome, and 
driven out of the church because of his clinging to the teachings of the 
Scriptures, declares that "Those anti-social laws today are w^ritten on 
herbanners with the blood often millions of martyrs. It is underthose 
bloody banners that six thousand Roman Catholic priests, Jesuits, 
and bishops are marching to the conquest of this republic, backed 
by their seven millions of blind and obedient slaves. In a ver}' near 
future, if God does not miraculously prevent it, those laws of dark 
deeds and blood will cause the prosperity, the rights, the education, 
and the liberties of this too-confident nation to be buried under a 
mountain of smoking and bloody ruins. On the top of that moun- 
tain Rome will raise her throne and plant her victorious banners. 
Then she wdll sing her Te Deums, and shout her shouts of joy, as 
she did when she heard the lamentations and cries of desolation of 
the millions of mart\TS burning in the five thousand auto-da-fes 
she had raised in all the capitals and great cities of Europe." 
(Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, by Rev. Charles Chiniquy, p. 
6S6.) Such words, by the many in America, are regarded as mere 
rant. In the light. of history, it seems almost impossible that the 
pope's new encyclical could be treated as if of but little moment, or, 
under any circumstances, be compared to Mark Twain's utterances. 
And yet, in one of our best religious papers, this has been done. 

Such statements as the following : ' 'The church is tolerant," ' 'Every 
Catholic should rigidly adhere to the teachings of the Roman pon- 
tiffs," " All Catholics should do all in their power to cause the con- 
stitution of state and legislation to be modeled in the principles of 
the true [Romish] church," "All Catholics must make themselves 
active elements in daily political life in the countries in which 
they live," "The church holds that various sects of Christians 
cannot be tolerated on a footing of equalitv with true religion," 
"We expect all Catholics to take an active part in all municipal 
affairs and elections, and to further the principles of the church 
in all public sei*\'ices, meetings, and gatherings," — these injunc- 
tions, which are as binding upon seven millions of Romanists as 
.are the orders of a commander-in-chief to the army, are spoken 



158 LEO XIII IN AMERICAN POLITICS. 

of as lightly as though they were a pope's bull issued against the 
appearance of a comet. 

In the United States, wherever Leo XIII is ruler, the Sabbath 
loses its hold upon the people, and morality suffers a loss. 

Romanism is the "mystery of iniquity ;" it serves the devil in the 
guise of a saint. It became possible when Christians turned from 
Christ and surrendered to the methods and pradlices born of a cor« 
rupt nature and prompted by the carnal heart. 

It claims the child at birth, keeps him in subjedlion through life, 
and refuses to release its hold at death. Penance is its penalty for 
sin ; purgatory is the place where the curse is burned away. 

In the structure of the government of the Roman Catholic 
church is the root of despotism. Leo XIII claims the right to rule 
even in America, saying : "In the formation of opinion, w^hatever 
things the Roman pontiffs have handed down, each and every one 
is it necessary to hold in firm judgment, well understood, and, as 
often as occasion demands, openly declare." * * * * "And 
let all hold this precept, absolutely, who are wont to commit their 
thoughts to writing, especially the editors of newspapers." * * 
" In this way Catholics would obtain two things most excellent :; 
One, that they will make themselves helps to the church in pre- 
serving Christian knowledge ; the other, that they will benefit civil 
society, of which the safety is gravely compromised by reason of civil 
dodrines and inordinate desires." 

This is a good time for the lovers of truth to unroof these errors 
and confront them. There are but two parties in the leligious 
world : They that take a "Thus saith the Lord" for the rule of tlieir 
faith and pra6lice, and they that do not. 




JOHN WYCLIFFE, 

THE MORNING STAR OF THE ENGLISH REFORMATION. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE, HONORED AS A TRUTH 

TELLER. 



^'Because I live, ye shall live also." John 14: 19. 

John Wycliffe illustrates, in his life and influence, the powder of a 
man w^ho tells the truth. He did not know all the truth. He stood 
in the midst of shadow and superstition. His feet were taken out 
of the quicksands of doubt and conje6lure, and planted on the rock 
Christ Jesus. There he stood. He told what he knew. So far as 
he knew the way, he walked in it, and bade all follow him as he 
followed Christ. He did not organize a society, or found a sedl, or 
become the head of an order ; and in this respe6l ranks neither with 
Loyola nor with Luther. He did better, and a(?ted more wisely, 
than either of them. He kept with God, stood for God, and held 
on, undaunted, to the end. He never weakened nor let go. 

His utter fearlessness challenges admiration. He feared not to 
walk where truth led the way. Purgatory and other errors of Rome 
were demolished as he came to them and investigated them in the 
light of Scripture ; he trampled on them in the fear and in the name 
of God. He had the courage of his convi6lions. He was the one 
man who dared stand up and be counted. Opposition did not 
daunt him ; peril did not stay his hand nor shut his mouth. 

If it is contended that Luther weakened in his old age, that there 
w^ere errors he did not grapple with and truths he did not tell, for 
expediency's sake or any other sake, this could not be said of Wyc- 
liffe, the "morning star of the Reformation." From first to last, 
he lived for Christ. Christ is pledged to keep his fame and name 
alive. The life of God was in him ; and to him Christ spake, in 
private and in public — when, in his study and on his knees, he 
grappled with error, and when in public he went forth, a flaming 
torch, to illumine the world — saying, "Because I live, ye shall live 
also." Is it not a good time to turn our eyes to this star that shone 
for God, and that now shines for all ? 

161 



1 62 JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

The day-dawn has come. The prophecies of God's word are 
being fulfilled. The forces of error are dying out. They no longer 
fill the land. The ark of the Lord is being lifted. God com- 
mands that the lovers of the Bible, of education, of liberty, sandify 
themselves. The Lord is about to do wonders among his people. 
The church of Jesus Christ resembles Israel on the banks of the 
Jordan. On this day, so praised ; this day, when the pulpit is so 
well manned ; this day, when Bibles are being scattered and sown 
on the broad field of a world's adtivity, as seed is thrown by the lib- 
eral sower ; this day, when the press is free, and all padlocks are 
removed from lip and closet, and the tongue can declare the truth, 
the whole truth, not only beneath the broad aegis of the great 
republic, but in Great Britain, and wherever the flag representing 
the Lion of the tribe of Judah waves, in France, w^here the Hugue- 
nots were slain, in Italy, where, as in Rome itself, the gospel may 
be preached, — Jehovah speaks to his children ; in Austria, in Ger- 
many, where Luther awoke, in Spain, where Torquemada reveled 
in cruelty, in Mexico, where death has reigned — this day of days, the 
Lord bids us: "Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over 
before the people, and I will begin to magnify thee ; and when ye 
are come to the brink of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan." 
*'Be not dismayed. Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord 
your God. Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, 
and that he will, without fail, drive out from before you the Roman- 
ists and the Mormons and the atheists and the infidels, because the 
ark of the covenant is in the advance." 

Let us take up the stones from the bed of the stream on which v^e 
have walked into the Canaan of opportunity, and build an altar unto 
our God, which shall be a memorial unto our children forever. 
How can we do this better, than by considering twelve fa6ls in the 
life of John Wycliffe ? 

I. It is not when he was born^ nor where ', for the date of 
his birth and the place of his birth knoweth no 7nan; but it is 
what he did^ as a child and as a inan.^ that makes his life 
glorious. 

Wycliffe was a character, more than a personality. It is as such 
that he deserves to be studied. One would like to have known his 
parents. There was a strain of wonderful blood which ran through 
his veins : did it come from father or mother.? No one knows but 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 163 

God. Biographers think he was born in 1324, because they think 
he was sixty years of age when he died. He a6ted and looked like 
a man of eighty, rather than sixty, when he died. He was born long 
before 1324 — perhaps nearer 1300 than any other date. For all that 
history shows to the contrary, he might be declared to have been 
another Melchisedec, "without father and mother." 

We know the path he trod from home to the monastery that is 
now a ruin. We can see the brook by which he played, the moun- 
tains he gazed upon, the meadows he loved. But all are silent re- 
specting him. Like Enoch he walked with God, and, in due time, 
when l\is work was done, God took him to himself. 

2. He was converted — born again. 

He became a new creature in Christ Jesus, the Lord. The sav- 
ing power of Christianity is seen in his life. He was the first En- 
glishman whose views of truth compelled an utter and an absolute 
renunciation of the spiritual, as well as the temporal, power of the 
pontiffs. The Bible led him out of Rome. The convidling power 
of the Holy Ghost convinced him of sin, of righteousness and of 
judgment to come ; and revealed to him a Saviour in Jesus Christ 
— in whom he believed, and by whose blood his sins were washed 
away — and he was brought into the fellowship of the life of God. 
Then the promise became his : "Because I live, ye shall live also." 
How that promise is being kept ! The student of the Reformation 
may strike in where he chooses, he finds John Wycliffe, and must 
learn the story of his life before he masters the subje6l ; for to Wyc- 
liffe's mind nearly every principle of our general Protestantism 
must be traced. The Bible became his rule of faith and pradlice. 
As far as he went, this led him and blessed him. He did not go all 
the way. There were many more truths to break out of God's word, 
said the Puritan Robinson, who lifted up an ensign centuries after. 
So it shall be in the ages yet to come. We recount Wycliffe's life 
and deeds because of the w^ork he achieved in this diredlion. 

3, He not only knew the truth and learned it^ but he told it. 
He diffused his do6lrine among his countrymen with an industry 

which is almost incredible, and with a success that his enemies de- 
scribe as a leading cause of the revolution which signalized the rule 
of Henry VIII. Hence his admirers delight to describe him as he 
stood in the Thermopylae of the struggle, "the truth-teller, fearing 
God above all, and fearing nothing else." 



164 JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

Romanism, when he came, was master. The England of that 
time was not the England we know. Popedoms were popedoms 
then — not jokes, not spooks to frighten children, not hobgoblins with 
which to alarm the ignorant and superstitious ; but masters of men, 
morally and spiritually, and in temporal afiairs as well. The pope 
had possession of governments, of the thoughts and aspirations of 
men. The pope ruled England with a rod of iron. Men were 
dominated by this incarnation of the prince of the power of the air. 
WyclifFe used ink two centuries before Luther threw his ink-bottle 
at the f.end incarnate. In Oxford, at Queen's college, and after- 
wards at Merton, he drank from the stream which flows fast by the 
throne of God ; and became known as the Man of the Book, as 
his followers came to be called Bible m.en. He early became mas- 
ter of the civil and canon law. He mastered Aristotle, and used the 
knowledge obtained as a stepping-stone to reach something higher 
and better. He became acquainted with the instruments of defense 
and attack. He was made ready for his w^ork, because he climbed 
up above earth, got into the fastnesses of Jehovah's strength, reached 
the hand of God, and was held by it, when the tide of favor ran in 
and w^hen the tide of favor ran out. 

In 1348 a terrible pestilence swept England as with the besom of 
destrudlion. It broke out in Tartary in 1345, and, after desolating 
Asia and a part of Africa, extended its ravages to the west, and is 
supposed to have carried into the eternal presence fully one-third of 
the population of the world. 

This destructive malady made its appearance at Dorchester in 
August, 1348. By November it had reached the metropolis, and 
thence continued its progress of destru6li on toward the north. Wyc- 
liffe was then in his majority. He looked about. The pestilence 
-was regarded by him as the visitation of the Almighty, with 
trumpet-tones proclaiming the final doom. The angel of destruc- 
tion v/as supposed to have gone for th upon this commission of ven- 
geance in order that men might be prepared for the last advent of 
Jesus Christ. Alarmed at the thoughts of eternity, the young man 
passed days and nights in his monk's ceil, calling on God to show 
liim the path he ought to follow. Then he surrendered himself to 
Jesus Christ and worshipped him. In the Holy Scriptures he found 
the path marked out for his feet. He then gave himself to the 
w^ork of making it know^n to others. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. I 65 

''The Last Age of the Church" was written to give utterance to 
the emotions of his soul and the results of his investigations. As a 
prophetic work it is worthless, as have been thousands of similar 
produdtions ; but as a manifestation of the vigor with which he was 
girding himself up for a conflidl with the powers and principalities 
of the papal empire, it is exceedingly valuable. He found society 
honeycombed with vice and given up to sensual delights. He said 
so, and warned against the evil. He found in the condu6l of the 
clergy the seat of national malady. He refused to heal the hurt 
slightly, but plunged the knife into the depths of the imposthume. 
Then he began to get in his best work. The bridges w^ere burned 
behind him. Naught was before him but the open path of duty. 

In 1360 he commenced his attack upon the mendicant orders that 
were serving the monastic establishments, which had been converted 
into huge "castles of indolence," into gigantic monuments of pride 
and sensuality. They are that at this hour. Let the truth concern- 
ing them be told. It was not the first time that the swarms of holy 
beggars had been opposed. Gregory X tried to suppress them in 
1272. They were abroad again, and more importunate than ever 
before. Men beheld, with astonishment, that the barefooted breth- 
ren, to w^hom property was an accursed thing which they were to 
touch not and handle not, became gradually, by some strange leger- 
demain, the lords of stately edifices and ample revenues, and ap- 
peared in a fair way to rival the hierarchy in wealth, as effedlually 
as they had rivaled them in authority and influence. In 1221 they 
first appeared in England, under the conducSl of Gilbert de Fresney ; 
who, with twelve Dominican brethren, obtained an establishment 
in Oxford. Grostete encouraged them as bishop when they 
came ; but lived to repent the encouragement he had lavished upon 
them, and to denounce them as the heaviest curse that could be in- 
flicted on the cause of Christianity. Among other grounds of com- 
plaint w^s the fa6l tnat they had allured the youth to join their order, 
which had reduced the number of students at Oxford from 30,000 to 
6,000. 

Imagine Wyclifle, having taken the v^ord of God as the man of 
his counsel: about him were men who preferred anything and 
evei-}i;hing to the word. It is difficult to realize the vigor, the cour- 
age, the independence of soul, the strength of purpose, implied in 
the resolution to take his stand in the citadel of revealed truth, and 



1 66 JOHN WYCLTFFE. 

to regard all human commentaries as mere subordinate outworks 
and defenses, and to tell the simple truth given him, as David threw^ 
the stone from the brook, or as Moses smote the rock. He en- 
countered the frown of papal infallibility, without regard to what 
might come to him. All appeal to the Scriptures, from the author- 
ity of the church, was forbidden ; he appealed to the Scriptures, and 
set the authority of the church at defiance. 

"The Book of Sentences," a compilation from the fathers, was 
the fashion of the hour. He vs^as not in fashion, for he took his 
Bible, and, with the sword there obtained, cut his way through the 
jungle-depths to the table-land of hope. Remember where and 
when he worked : a century before Christopher Columbus discov- 
ered America ; before printing w^as known ; when the Bible had to 
be transcribed by hand — he filled England with the knowledge of 
the word of God. He did not plan his work. The secret of the 
Lord was with him. The life of God was in him. It was his life 
to do the w^ill of God. God, who saw the end from the beginning, 
was his inspiration, his guide. Such men live. Men may try to 
trample their memory into the mire of forgetfulness. It cannot be 
done. Like the Saviour in the sepulchre, with the stone sealed ; 
with soldiers dreaming that they were masters of the situation, and 
that they could keep him from a resurredlion ; the God in him con- 
trolled the forces outside, and so the earthquake rocked the city, tore 
down the stone on w^hich they had placed the mark, and made an 
open path for the risen Christ to take his morning stroll in the gar- 
den, before Mary and the women reached the sepulchre. 

5. John Wycliffe^ s fa?ne is a growth^ not an accident. 

He is what he is, because of w^hat he was. His scholarship was 
of the highest order. His ability to acquire w^as unmatched by any 
of his contemporaries. His memory v^as prodigious. His Biblical 
and philosophical studies, his knowledge of the wide range of theo- 
logical lore, his penetrating mind, attradled public attention, and 
made him w^arden of Balliol college in 1361 , and of Canterbuiy hall 
in 1365. During the week, mind came in conta6l with mind. 
Discussion in the class-room stirred him to his depths, and fitted him 
for his work on the Sabbath. His disputations during the week gave 
strength to his sermons, and his sermons on the Sabbath shed light 
on his disputations. He walked with God, and the light of God 
illumined his soul. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 1 67 

He was a preacher. It was more than time that somebody should 
jjive some attention to preaching, which had fallen into desuetude. 
Wycliffe set to work to improve this state of things. He established 
a school of the prophets, wherein he trained young men, and sent 
them forth, as itinerant preachers, giving particular attention to Ox- 
fordshire and Leicestershire counties, with which he was specially 
connedted. His work at home sent its echoes through the land. 
Rome raved, and Bishop Courtenay's wrath burned fiercely against 
this presumptuous minister at Lutterworth. What business had he 
to set himself up to reform preaching throughout England, when 
my lords, the bishops, had not stirred in the matter? What cared 
bishops though the commoner style of sermon was replete with jokes 
and laughable anecdotes ; sometimes descending to dirty scandal un- 
fit for publication ? Nothing at all ! 

5. His fure and blameless life furnished a mighty force 
with vjhich to propel the truth he proclaiw,ed. 

Mighty men had preceded him. Bacon, Duns Scotus and Ock- 
ham had been distinguished for reckless audacity. Undismayed by 
the thunder and excommunication of the church, Ockham had sup- 
ported Emperor Lewis of Bavaria in his recent struggle, and had 
not shrunk, in his enthusiasm for the empire, from attacking the 
foundations of the papal supremacy, nor from asserting the rights of 
the civil power. The spare, emaciated frame of Wycliffe, weak- 
ened by study and asceticism, hardly promised a reformer who 
would cany on the strong work of Ockham ; but within this frail 
form lay a temper quick and restless, an immense energy, an im- 
movable convi6lion, an unconquerable pride. The personal charm 
which ever accompanies real greatness only deepened the influence 
he derived from the spotless purity of his life. 

"As yet, indeed, even Wycliffe himself can hardly have suspedled 
the immense range of his intelledlual power. It was only the strug- 
gle that lay before him which revealed in the dry and subtle school- 
man the founder of our later English prose, a master of popular in- 
ved:ive, of irony, of persuasion, a dexterous politician, an audacious 
partisan, the organizer of religious work, the unsparing assailant of 
abuses, the boldest and most indefatigable of controversialists, the 
first reformer who dared, when deserted and alone, to question and 
deny the creed of the Christendom around him, to break through 
the tradition of the past, and with his last breath to assert the free- 



1 68 JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

dom of religious thought against the dogmas of the papacy." (His- 
tory of the English People, by J . Richard Gieen, M. A., Vol. I, pp. 
445-6.) John Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster, summoned him to take 
ground against the pope and for the king, and, so long as his work was 
political, stood by him, but had no use for the ambassador of God ; 
so, wdien he attacked the Romish eucharist, indulgences,. idolatry 
and kindred errors, fell ott", and left John Wycliffe to walk on alone. 
On he went, into depths which the soldier-statesman could not 
fathom. Lancaster and his friends believed Wyclifle w^as wise and 
true, but cranky, going too far and making use of dangerous weapons, 
and so they stopped. John Wycliffe pushed on to the end of the 
way. From individuals he appealed to mankind. He w^rote and 
scattered the truth. It took root. It brought forth a harvest. He 
v^as a born radical. ^ He went to the root of things. He called a 
spade a spade. He uncovered hypocrisy ; he revealed the abomina- 
tions of infidelity, no matter in what guise it appeared. 

In 1365, Urban V demanded of Edward III a thousand marks as 
a feudal acknowledgment that he owned England and Irelan d. The 
claim "was referred to parliament, and the duke of Lancaster asked 
John Wycliffe to dispute the claim, and disprove the right to make 
it. This he did, and issued a thes is against the pope w^hich matched 
the theses of Luther against Tetzel. It was king against pope — 
English civilization against papal domination. 

He began the work, and William, prince of Orange, finished it. 
He unclasped the iron hand of the hierarchy of Rome from the 
throat of England, and made the Man of Sin feel that in the face of 
truth he was but a man of straw. Rome was in a rage. Patriots 
took heart. John Wycliffe became the hero of the hour. In 1372 
he waselevated to the chair of Oxford. In 1377 ^^^^ English hie- 
rarchy thought to silence this man of the people. Better try their 
hand on a cyclone ! God takes care of his own. On May 22, 1377, 
Gregory XI issued five bulls against him. John Wycliffe laughed 
at him and them, and all England joined in the great guffaw. 

His manner of life gave him power. Lie took his own medicine. 
If he fought the priesthood because of their scramble for riches, he 
contented himself with his wages, and utterly refused luxuries or 
wealth. He dressed in a gown of the coarsest russet, and often was 
seen barefoot, with his pilgrim's staff in his hand, going among the 
people to lead them to a higher life. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 1 69 

King Edward died June 21, 1377, a true and good man. Pope 
Gregory, the persecutor of Wycliffe, passed to his account March 27, 
1378 ; Cardinal Bartholomew di Prignano of Bari became Urban VI. 
In July, 137S, the French cardinals claimed his election illegal, and 
on Sept. 20, 1378, Count Robert de Geneve became Clement VII, 
and the great schism began — pope and anti-pope. When popes fell 
out, good Christian Wyclifte obtained his great opportunity. 

6. He believed in the proclainaiion of the truth and practiced 
as he preached. 

It was new business in the church of Rome ; but it told mightily 
for God. Let priests expound scripture by scripture and uncover 
the truth, and their people will be brought into the light, and error 
will die. Over 300 sermons are now extant ; they are not love-dit- 
ties, but storm-breeders. He denounced as traitors priests found in 
taverns, given up to hunting and playing at their tables, instead of 
teaching God's law and warning of danger and inciting to noble 
endeavor. He says: "The highest sendee men may attain to on 
earth is to preach the word." "He does best who best keeps the 
commandments." "That service is the best which has the worst 
opposed to it." It is in the following language that the reformer 
expresses his confidence in the power of truth, and as to the issue of 
every conflict sustained in its cause : "Men should not fear except 
on account of sin, or the losing of virtues ; since pain is just and ac- 
cording to the will of God, and the truth is stronger than all their 
enemies. Why, then, should men fear or sorrow for it } Let a man 
stand in virtue and truth, and all this world overcometh him not ; 
for if they overcome him with these, then they overcome God and 
his angels, and then they should make him to be no God." It was 
his way of saying, One with God is a majority. 

The monastery and convent business found in him an energetic 
opponent. "The best life for priests is to teach and preach the 
gospel." "What cursed spirit of falsehood moveth priests to close 
themselves within stone walls for all their life, since Christ com- 
manded all his apostles and priests to go into all the world and 
preach the gospel? Each man coming to the priesthood taketh on 
him the office of a beadle or a crier, to go before dooms-day to crv 
to the people their sins and the vengeance of God." This truth de- 
serves a wide welcome. There are those who think Romanism is 
to be beaten bv secret plotting and persistent and secret working. 



l*JO JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

Romanism and every other ism is to be overthrown by the procla- 
mation of the truth. It is not in conclaves nor in secret associations 
that the work of God is to be moved foi-ward. Plans may there be 
laid and arrangements made. The disciples walked out of council- 
chamber where they held converse with God, and preached the 
truth ; and then the mighty power of God was seen among men. 

7. His crowning work was the translation of the Scriptures. 

The trend of his life had been in this diredlion. Ten years were 
given to the task for which his whole life had been a preparation. 
The church, he believed, had fallen because she had abandoned the 
gospel and preferred the laws of the pope. "Although there should 
be a hundred popes in the world at once, and all the friars living 
should be transformed into cardinals, ^we must withhold our confi- 
dence, unless so far as they are founded in the Holy Scriptures." In 
the face of the direst opposition, and far more than we can gain a 
conception of, he betook himself to his heartfelt task ; and this he did 
with his eyes open to the prejudices of the world. Then, as now, 
Romanism was on the side of the carnal heart, and the devil and his 
clique were the objects of regard. His translation, which was fin- 
ished in the year 1380, was like the rising of the sun upon a night 
of storm. The Bible became a light on the path and a lamp to the 
feet of all who turned to it for guidance. It will do it again. 
Christians must organize to make the Scriptures known. In Mon- 
treal, Canada, in France, in Brazil, and elsewhere, the word of God 
is attended with power. 

He stood for the king against the pope. According to the doc- 
trine of WyclifFe, the authority of the crown was supreme over all 
persons and property in England, to the exclusion not only of the 
secular but the spiritual jurisdi(5lion of the papal court. He retained 
the ordinance of baptism without teaching baptismal regeneration, 
and the sacrament of the mass without the doctrine of transubstantia- 
tion. He denied any intrinsic beneficial influence from confirma- 
tion, penance, holy orders or extreme undlion, and declared them 
all fraught with delusion. He held that masses for the dead were 
a piece of clerical machinery, adjusted with a view to gain. The 
number of brief tra6ls which he produced baffles calculation. Two 
hundred are said to have been burned in Bohemia, where they were 
carried and were as seed sown on good ground. This struck pope- 
doms a terrific blow. It is the truth that dissolves error, as sunshine 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. I^I 

devours darkness. That Wicked is to be revealed whom the Lord 
shall consume w^ith the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the 
brightness of his coming. 

The work went on after his departure. Two years had hardly 
gone, when the Lollards, in their petition, said: "The church of 
England, from the age in which she began to dote on temporalities, 
after the example of Rome, her step-mother, has declined in faith, 
hope and charity, and has surrendered their place to pride, and all 
deadly sins, as experience manifests." The established forms of 
priestly ordination were pronounced human inventions. The celi- 
bacy of the clergy and of the religious was declared to be the parent 
of the worst of crimes, and imposes a restraint which men so ad- 
didled to intemperance must frequently violate. "A reform in this 
particular must begin with the monasteries, in whose dissolution the 
convents of females should participate, and for the same reason. 
The doctrine of transubstantiation leads to idolatry ; the pradlice 
of exorcising, and the customs relating to consecration, savor more 
of necromancy than of divinity ; and in every kingdom the worldly 
offices of churchmen are occasions of disorder, requiring them to at- 
tempt that sei'vice of God and mammon which the Scriptures declare 
to be impossible. Priests should have wives, since fornication is so 
perilous, and priests are so frail. Through the hypocrisy of fiends 
and false men, many bind themselves to priesthood and chastity, and 
forsake those who by God's law are their wives, and injure maidens 
and wives, and fall into vices most foully." • 

Truth then is truth now. It required integrity and firmness to 
avow such opinions in such an age. Does it not require the same 
virtue to be true at this time ? Bodily marriage Wycliffe defends 
as a sacrament, approved of God in paradise, by the Saviour on 
earth, and by the apostles — one of whom numbered the prohibition 
of marriage among the marks of the apostasy which should appear 
at the last day. 

8. The behind him. 

From little to large the papacy had grown. Education had been 
fought, and learning was confined to monasteries and priests and 
shut out from the people. Illiteracy was the rule. With ignorance 
came crime, cruelty and wretchedness. It was not only unlawful 
but claimed to be injurious to read the Bible, and the laity were for- 
bidden the use of the book. The psalter, the breviary and the Hours 



172 JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

of the Blessed Virgin they might have, with moderation, but not the 
Bible. 

Down to the period of about two years before Wycliffe had com- 
pleted his translation, the question on every tongue w^as : "Who 
is pontifl\^''' In the year 1305, through the influence of France, the 
court of Rome had been translated into that kingdom, and there it 
remained for seventy-four years, to the great dam^age of Rome as a 
city, but without any rent or division in the system. Edward III 
died June 21, 1377, at the very moment Gregory XI had ordered 
Wycliffe to be seized and imprisoned till further orders. March 27, 
1378, the reigning pontiffdied. Then came the great schism. The 
head of the body was cloven in twain and the two parts made to fight 
each other. Here is the union praised by Cardinal Gibbons. Eng- 
land and Scotland were of opposite opinions : England held by 
Urban VI of Rome, who had first been chosen ; Scotland followed 
Clement V^II of Avignon. The disease spread. The men of the 
university of Paris began to advocate a plurality of pontiffs and the 
appointment of one to every kingdom. 

g. The around hi7n. 

Who can describe it.^* Who can imagine it.^ Rome had power 
then. It was the dark ages. Pope was all. Kings were play- 
things ; titled and great men were his supporters. Over against the 
pope and with W^ycliffe stood good and true men and women. They 
were fearless. They counted not the cost. The wife of the Black 
Prince loved Christ, and when Wycliffe w^as in danger of losing his 
life and of being sent to the stake, she ordered the persecutors to 
stay their hands and set the reformer at liberty. She died in 1394, 
honored as one who was not afraid to confess Christ and stand by 
those who glorified his name. 

In 13795 Wycliffe, as divinity professor, had his first stroke of 
paralysis. The friars rejoiced, believing that his time had come 
to depart, and exhorted him to repentance. "Lift me up," said 
the sick man. Up he w^as lifted and then he shouted : "I shall not 
die, but live to declare the evil deeds of the friars." Live he did, 
and his voice rang out to the end of the earth. 

His followers sang as they journeyed on, and were called Lollards. 
They ministered to the sick, they preached Christ, they lived in 
poverty. In 1382 they became a power in England, and it became 
difficult to meet two people in the street without finding a Lollard. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. l^'^ 

In 1394 they petitioned parliament for a reformation of the church. 
In 1 40 1, heresy was punished with death. Then came the wave of 
persecution, and continued, filling England with sorrow, till 143 1. 
In 1494 they were persecuted in Scotland. In the sixteenth centuiy 
they united with the reformed churches and disappeared from view. 

10. Men of brain,, of position and cf iLeaUh ii-ere the chief 
adherents and the best pro?7ioters of thevjork to iL'hich Wycliffe 
had consecrated his life. 

The value of such support should not be overlooked. They paid 
for the transcribing of the Scriptures, and distributed volumes and 
portions of the word of God. 

A common wail of lamentation : "This Master John WyclifFe 
hath translated the gospel out of Latin into English, which Christ 
had intrusted with the clergy and dolors of the church, that they 
might minister it to the laity and even to women who can read." 
This was done, and what was before deemed to be the chief gift of 
the clergy and do6lors of the church is m ade forever common to the 
laity. 

From 1380 to 1400 the truth was like a handful of corn in the hand 
of the sower. Broadcast he threw it. It took root. It paved the 
way for greater work beyond. While Rome was fighting, God's 
children were praying, and the truth was scattered and made -men 
free. WyclifFe said these true words : ' 'To live and to be silent is with 
me impossible. The guilt of such treason against the Lord of 
heaven is more to be dreaded than many deaths. Let the blow 
therefore fall. My purpose is unalterable. I await its coming." 
He did not fear death. He did not court it. He attended to his 
business and proclaimed the truth, and took the consequences. 

11. The vahie of such a man. 

He broke the spell. He lifted up the standard. Men, true men, 
and godly women rallied about it. His piety was that of the Scrip- 
tures, and resulted from a strength of faith and was distinguished by 
an unearthliness of feeling which are not of too frequent occurrence 
in the annals of the church. Thousands embraced his opinions so 
far only as they related to what was most objedlionable in the exist- 
ing superstitions or to the secular encroachments of the hierarchy. 
By others they were received on account of their religious character, 
and led them to a new life and made them heirs of God. 

On the continent his writings were the means of reviving and of 



174 JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

greatly extending the spirit of the reformation. Out of the influence 
exerted by his presentation of the truth came the continental struggle, 
in which England bore the foremost part, which made Europe throw 
off' the authority of the popes and led the way to the emancipation 
of the people from the bondage of Rome. 

12. His place -ht history is secure. 

He did not do Luther's work. He did not live in Germany or at 
Luther's time. He did his own work, in England, and did it ex- 
ceedingly well. Both men were brave and true. Both were nursed 
in the superstitions which they were destined to oppose, and both 
passed by slow and unanticipated steps to the adoption of their final 
sentiments. But the claim to originality and enterprise must be 
awarded to the English reformer. If the proof of courage is to be 
regulated at all by the degree of peril which is encountered, it may 
be doubted if Luther ever stood in the jeopardy which for some years 
was attendant on the footsteps of Wyclifie. He lives in spite of 
Rome. Rome did its best to kill the man. He died on his bed in 
peace. Rome has tried to uproot his influence. It is deepening 
and w^idening every hour. 

We turn with delight to the close of his life. John Horn, his 
curate, and John Purvey, his secretary and literary executor, are 
noted for what they were to him, to the truth and to the cause. We 
can almost transport ourselves back over the intei-vening centuries 
to quiet Lutterworth parsonage. Wyclifie is among his books and 
with his friends. He is loved by his people to whom he has broken 
the bread of life. Wyclifie and Purvey are in the library. Hear 
Wyclifie, pleased with some pungent expression, making the welkin 
ring as he toys with his thunderbolt before he sends it forth against 
the false brethren, hypocrites, anti-Christ and devils, as he calls them. 
We can see them welcoming tidings of the itinerant preachers, "the 
poor priests," as they were called, or enjoying Horn's relation of 
his daily experience among the people. We can see them at their 
daily devotions, humbly acknowledging the source of all blessing 
and asking needed help. We can follow them on Sundays to the 
parish church, and see the eager faces of the rustic crowd as they 
hang breathless on the lips of the preacher ; while the evangelical 
do6lor himself, in the terse, simple, but expressive vernacular, 
thunders against ungodliness and ungodly men, or, in softer tones, 
tells the story of divine love. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. I 75 

Though little is known of his bcyhccd, much is known of his 
maturity anu old age. Though we car net see his mother and know 
how he was reared, we can behold his lace as he stood on the moun- 
tain, his arms upheld by m.en who, like Aaron and Hur, were helpers 
indeed, and enabled him to fulfil his task. God's care was very 
tender and was full of manifestations of love. The shadows of the 
year were gathering. Its last day had come. On Innocent's day 
he entered Luttei-worth church for the last time. He went in, a 
white-haired old man, leaning heavily upon his staff. He spoke to 
some as he came in. John Horn officiated. The re6lor, John 
Wyclifte, sat in the chair in his accustomed place. As the bread 
was elevated, he sank heavily to the ground. Friends were about 
him in an instant, seeking by kind words to find out his ailment. It 
was in vain. He never spoke again. The second stroke of paraly- 
sis had deprived the reformer of all power of speech. The radiant 
eyes glanced from one to another, showing that the spirit within 
was as unclouded as ever ; but the powerful voice, which had rocked 
the throne of the Vatican, had uttered its last word till it should 
burst into the new song of Moses and the Lamb. 

They carried him out in his communion chair and laid him on his 
bed, where, without a farewell to those he left behind, God called 
John Wycliffe to the joys of paradise. What a rest it must have 
been ! No more warring against principalities and powers and the 
rulers of the darkness of this world ; no more wars and rumors of 
wars and endless apprehension of persecution. He exchanged earth 
for heaven. What a change ! Can we not see him in the glory? 
These deeds performed for Christ and truth are remembered. God 
is great enough to be great and to give the deserving a recognition. 
Behold him as he obtains his crown as a preacher of righteousness 
and as a lover of the word of God ! 

How they hated him ! His great enemy, the monk, Thomas of 
Walsingham, on whose Chronicle modern popular English history 
is built, rather than on any other, for the period comprised in it, 
thus describes his death: "On the feast of the passion of St. 
Thomas of Canterbury, John Wycliffe — that organ of the devil, that 
enemy of the church, that author of confusion to the common peo- 
ple, that idol of heretics, that image of hypocrites, that restorer of 
schism, that store-house of lies, that sink of flattery — being struck by 
the horrible judgment of God, was struck with palsy ; and continued 



176 JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

to live in that condition until St. Sylvester's day, on which he breathed 
out his malicious spirit into the abodes of darkness." This will 
suthce to show that hate lives as does love. Death does not end all 
— it does not end anything. Loves and hates run on. 

Thirty years after the death of John Wyclifte, Thomas Arundel, 
archbishop of Canterbur}^, who was one of his chief persecutors, met 
with a similar death. The Lollards whispered: "The man died 
speechless because he had bound, or tried to, the word of God." 
John Wyclifie, it might have been said, ceased to speak and could 
afford to rest from his labors, because the word of God was to speak 
for him. He had kindled a fire. The heat remains, and to it go 
back the cold currents from far off lands and there get warmth again. 

Luther was sun ounded by the titled and the great ; princes and 
potentates stood with him. Not so with Wyclifie : during the year 
immediately preceding his death the father of the English reforma- 
tion was deserted by the most powerful of his accredited disciples, 
oppressed by the strength of the hierarchy and fully anticipating to 
burn for his testimony. It did not hinder him. He worked the 
harder, believing that God's arm was not shortened. 

Do we doubt results? Let us do it no more. God is for his 
truth and for those v^ho proclaim it. WyclifTe was not harmed or 
hindered. He went on to a ripe old age, and leaned on the arm 
that never leaves or deserts God's own. 

And so one of the truest, brightest and bravest of men, the great- 
est by far of all the reformers before the Reformation, passed away 
to his rest and rew^ard. Of him, if ever of any one, it may with 
truth be said that he lives and speaks. They buried him in his 
church at Lutterworth ; but his bones were not permitted a long re- 
pose, nor his memory any rest from obloquy. Thomas Arundel, 
bishop of Canterbury, thundered forth his anathemas, and the coun- 
cil of Constance, in 1415, indignant that his do6lrine had poisoned 
all Bohemia, passed sentence that his remains be exhumed and 
burned. In 1428, in presence of Richard Fleming, bishop of Lin- 
coln, 

"WyclifFe is disinhumed. 
Yea, his dry bones to ashes are consumed, 
And flung into the brook that travels near ; 
Forthwith, that ancient voice wliich streams can hear 
Thus spake ( that voice which walks upon the wind, 
Though seldom heard by busy human kind) : 



JOHN \VYCLIFFE. I 77 

As thou these ashes, little brook, wilt bear 

Into the Avon, Avon to the tide 

Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas. 

Into main ocean they — this deed accursed 

An emblem yields to friends and enemies. 

How the bold teacher's dodlrine, sanctified 

By truth, shall spread throughout the world dispersed." 

— [\, oidsworth. 

Or, as another has expressed it : The ashes w^ere cast into the 
Swdft, under the arch of the bridge nearest to the town. The Swift 
bore them to the Avon — 

"The Avon to the Severn runs. 

The Severn to the sea, 
And VvyclifTe's dust shall spread abroad 

Wide as the world shall be." 

Legend has it that "No water w^ould ever flow* again beneath that 
arch where Wvcliffe's ashes had been flung ; and that on the spot 
wdiere one of his bones had fallen St. John's well sprang, which 
still runs clear and abundant, never drying up even in the hottest 
weather." Whether this be true or not, a well was cleared by the 
hands of John Wyclitle which burst forth like a spring, then was 
lost to sight, and afterwards gushed up to the light and has spread 
into a mighty river vhich has watered Europe with life-giving 
power. It is pleasant to remember that from the eighth to the six- 
teenth century the principles of the Protestant Reformation were all 
reallv advancing, notwithstandmg the retrograde appearance of 
things at certain intervals. The stand made by the Paulicians was 
surpassed by that of the Waldensians. Ey the labors of Wyclifi'e a 
still more sensible movement toward the renovation of Christendom 
was efiecled, and a man needed not the spuit of prophecy to antici- 
pate the coming of Zwingle and Luther from the ashes of LIuss and 
Jerome. Though each swell in the coming tide retreated, ap- 
parently, quite to the point from which it had commenced, each was 
more powerful than the former, and bespoke the certain influx of 
the mighty wave. 

It has been said that his work was not completed ; that in the 
main features it was hardlv a success. That may be true. It is 
true of all. Our work is all imperfect and never completed. Good 
work is a good beginning of something better to come. Man is in 
God's hand what the knife is in the hands of the sculptor. The 



lyS JOHN WYCLIFFE. 

block is before him. He cuts it away, and out come the form and 
the thought. It is tlie thought that lives. Though Wycliffe did 
not break the power of Rome in England, he laid the founda- 
tions on which others were to build. He sowed seed, others have 
reaped and are reaping the harvest ; and w^hatever glory belongs to 
the great work which brought about the religious revolutions of the 
sixteenth century, a large portion of that glory justly attaches to the 
memory of John Wycliffe. 

Wycliffe is the centre of the whole pre- Reformation history. In 
him meet a multitude of converging lines from the centuries which 
preceded him, and from him again go forth manifold influences like 
wave-pulses, which spread themselves widely on every side, and 
with a force so persistent that we are able to follow the traces of 
their presence to a later date than the commencement of the Ger- 
man Reformation. His words lightened the centuries. His in- 
fluence vivifies these times. Hfe lived the life of God in the world, 
and that life runs on forever. 

The need of this example is apparent. We are not sailing on a 
summer sea. We are approaching a terrific conflift. The battle 
of Armageddon is to be fought, and the cry is sounding out : "Up, 
for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered thine enemies 
into thine hands ; is not the Lord gone befoi'e thee ? " Let us make, 
as did John Wycliffe, the word of God our unfurled banner, and 
march beneath it ; remembering that, as with Israel, it shall become 
a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, a rear guard for its 
friends, a wall for its foes and a pavilion of glory for them v^ho trust 
in the Lord. 

And so, friends, there is work for you. Let the example placed 
before you by this man of God stir your hearts. Beyond him were 
Cromwell, Monmouth and William, prince of Orange. What a man 
was William. How bravely he stood up against Romanism. He 
handled popery without gloves. How they hated him. At the battle 
of the Boyne, when they thought him killed, the enemy sang wild Te 
Deums. But he was only wounded. That wound put new life into 
him. See him crossing a stream — horse swimming, he shouting; 
climbing the bank and dripping with water, he dashed in upon the foe 
so that the Irish said, "Change kings and we can win a vi6lory." 
Nature had endowed him with the qualities of a great i-uler, and ed- 
ucation had developed these qualities in no common degree. The 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. I 79 

"iidlory of the Boyne defeated James II and gave liberty to Great 
Britain; it established the Reformation and killed the Inquisition. 
It made William , prince of Orange, the representative man of the 
century, and covered with night Philip of Spain. It championed 
religious liberty and crushed priestly tyranny. It glorified Christ as 
the glory of Great Britain and overthrew^ the despotism of the pope. 
The principles that blessed England, Ireland and Scotland will 
enrich the great republic of the United States. Today it is Amer- 
ica for Americans or America for Roman Catholics only ; a free 
Bible or the council of Trent ; peace on earth and good will to men 
or the extermination of the lovers of truth. The contest is to test 
the nerve of the American peop le, as they dig the grave of Romanism 
and give nurture and help to soul liberty. 



THE OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN 
LIFE. 



The United States is sure to have a large place in history. 
The achievements won by her people in the past furnish a proph- 
ecy for the future, resplendent with promise and a glow of hope. 

What shall the outcome be? Faith says : "Everything that poet 
has dreamed or prophecy has foretold." Fa6l sounds out w^arnings 
deep and dire, and shouts : "Run up the danger signal, for there is 
peril in the air." Faith declares that a land stretching from ocean 
to ocean, from the frozen north to the tropic realms of the south, 
covered by a hardy and prosperous people, was not permitted 
by an all-seeing, all-powerful, and all- wise Creator to remain 
for thousands of years an undiscovered realm, without a reason for 
this waiting, worthy of our profound consideration. 

The use to which America has been put, since it was uncovered 
to the e3^e of mankind, is proof of a plan. Faith rejedls the theory 
that there is a place for an accident in the unfolding of events. 
Say what we will, mystery envelops our past, even if uncertain- 
ties cloud the future. Why did the discovery of America by Chris- 
topher Columbus w^ait the invention of printing and the unchaining 
of the word of God, so that this land should be peopled by the 
lovers of the Bible, who were compelled to contend for liberty be- 
cause it was necessary to their existence ? Has this land a place in 
prophecv ? Did Isaiah write of us when he spoke (Isa. 60:9) of 
the isles waiting for the ships of Tarshish (or Spain), "to bring 
thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the 
name of the Lord th}- God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because 
he hath glorified thee" ? Did the man of God, looking down through 
the mists of 25 centuries, see beyond the Babylonian, tlie 
Medo-Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman empires, the j.)il- 
lars of republican hope rising into view, which were to furnish sup- 
port to a world-wide arch, that was to cover humanity- with the 

181 



1 82 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

asgis of protedlion ? If such be the fa6l, surely we should under- 
stand it, because it declares that this nation is to have a place in 
God's plan, as the working force for the emancipation and educa- 
tion of the earth-born race. 

The theory which has ruled in this country, from the birth ot 
the republic down to this present time, is that this nation is to pre- 
serv^e a strict neutrality, that it is to live not v^holly for self, but 
rather that, ignoring all entangling alliances, it is to become a 
blessing to all. It has been regarded as a refuge for the oppressed, 
as an asylum for the persecuted and distressed, but not a land 
where people should have a voice to be used in behalf of liberty 
either among the nations of the old world or for the beleaguered 
and ill-led republics of South America. We can understand that 
England may have a mission to India, to Turkey, to Africa, to the 
other inhabitants of this western continent ; that she takes the affairs 
of the ignorant and the debased into her hands, planning for them, 
guiding and controlling them in such a way that despite themselves 
they are compelled to take an interest in directing the affairs ot 
peoples for whom they have no special regard, and for whom, if 
left to themselves, there would be no care. But few among us 
have a thought that in God's plan there is a similar mission for us. 
Peru has been smitten with internal disorder, and has been ruth- 
lessly torn and trampled on by a sister republic, and the policy 
adopted declares that v^rong may go on unrebuked and violence 
remain unchallenged, because we are to live for ourselves, without 
reference to the needs and necessities of peoples about us. Is there 
to be an outcome to our American life, or are we simply to grow 
large in body and resemble the Caspian sea, that receives contribu- 
tions from river and brook and cloud, and makes way with it all 
through the underground channels of its selfishness ? 

A theocratic democracy is one in w^hich the law of love to 
neighbor as to self rules, while it confers equal rights upon all citi- 
zens. This is diametrically opposed to legitimacy, popery, or ab- 
solutism. It is not conformable to hereditary aristocracy, nor can 
it be. It is democratic purely, and places all citizens of the same 
country upon a level as to the right to rule, and confers exclusive 
favors upon none. God is the only one that has a divine right to 
exercise kingship, and he is by consequence opposed to all human 
monarchy and holds it as a creature of depravity. When Israel 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 1 83 

turned from such a government and desired a king, God was dis- 
pleased, and from that day until July 4, 1776, there had not been 
on this earth a government which is an embodiment of the thought 
orignially commended to Moses on the mount. The republic of 
the United States is God's gift to oppressed humanity. 

Have we a work to do for the world ? We recall the congress 
held a few years ago in Berlin, in which representatives of the most 
powerful nations met in council to consider what disposition should 
be made of nations that are exposed to lawlessness and crime. No 
one in this country felt slighted because we were not consulted or 
invited to participate in this great parliament of nations, and yet we 
had men who were a match for Bismarck, Beaconslield, or Gort- 
schakofF. We have them now. Do we believe that the time is 
coming when this nation shall lead in a world-conflicl, and when 
the power here grown shall crash through all opposing powers and 
aid in the deliverance of humanity from the chains of despotic tyr- 
anny.^ Is this theocratic democracy the stone which Daniel saw 
cut out without hands, and modeled without man's knowing why 
or wherefore, after the pattern given Moses on the mount ? Is the 
government of the United States of America this seedling of the 
millennial republic which shall fill the whole world? Fulfilled 
prophecy, when it takes on the sober garb of history, is full of won- 
derful surprises. 

The history of the formation of the republic reads like a romance. 
It is not the produ6l of any human plan. It is a necessity. We 
are what we are because we could not be anything else and be any- 
thing at all. Could some of the most distinguished men of the 
revolutionary period have had their way, this land would have been 
a dependency of the British empire, as is Canada. Others sought 
to make it a kingdoin instead of a republic, and to luake Vv'ashing- 
ton king rather than president. A state religion, with persecuting 
power, was the dream and expectation of vast numbers who toiled 
to inake this land conform in its origin and growth with their con- 
ceptions. All failed, because there was a divine must — an almighty 
shall, molding and fashioning, until the republic, blessed bv religious 
liberty, became a fa6t. This being true, we lift with reverence, not 
unmixed with av^e, the cover oft^ from the well of truth, and gaze 
down into its pearly depths, and behold mirrored there the stars of 
hope which our fathers saw. 



184 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

It was on the 4th of July this nation was born. What a day it 
w*as ! The Declaration of Independence was the boldest possible 
protest against the tyranny which had hitherto cramped the move- 
ments of a people who were struggling to be free. It was an in- 
spiration. How reverential towards God they were. How true to 
themselves and mankind. Like Aloses and the children of Israel, 
they had reached the Red sea of difficulty. They had waited God's 
order, '•^ I^oj'ward^'' and in these words they sounded forth the 
battle-cry of freedom : "When, in the course of human events, it 
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connecled them with another, and to assume, among the 
powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws 
of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths t.j be 
self-evident : That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed 
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these 
are Izfe^ libei'ty^ and the pursuit of happiness^ Ponder this 
utterance, and think hov7 far it was in advance of their time. The 
banner was unfurled, the standard w^as set up in obedience to the 
behest of the Almighty. From that time on, the cry has been on 
the part of the lovers of slavery and of caste, "Bring back your 
colors ;" and from that time on. Providence has demanded that we 
bring up our men. We have not yet attained to this measure. God 
is still in advance of us. No wonder that it sounded a new epoch 
in the clock of destin}^ John Hancock signed it in letters so large 
that men could read it across the sea, knowing that he was to live 
a free man or die a traitor. Think of the wrongs which had 
ground men for ages, and of this uplift against the barbarisms of the 
past and in behalf of the new era for liberty in the future. No 
wonder John Adams vv^rote his wife, as if endov/ed with the spirit 
of prophecy, declaring that the day will be celebrated in the ages 
to come as the one event which separates the dead past from the 
living present. Think of the twenty-seven charges against the 
king and Great Britain, including usurpations of rights and unbear- 
able oppression, and of their mutual pledge to each other of their 
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in support of the Declara- 
tion. Attempts have been made to belittle the day and give signifi- 
cance to the birthday of Washington instead. The nation made 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 1 85, 

the man, the man did not make the nation, so it failed. Inde- 
pendence day is a national event. It brings all classes face to face 
with an epoch in humanity from which dates the growth of a spirit 
in harmony with the purposes of the gospel, and in line with the 
prophetic foreshadowings which make this nation the child of a 
beneficent Providence, and the almoner of priceless blessings to 
mankind. The fourth of July unites all hearts, north and south, 
in a sacred memory which brings back to us the heroic efforts put 
forth to throw ofl" a degrading bondage and give freedom to hu- 
manity. The work our fathers attempted, the children have 
achieved. They began to lay the beams of the up-going temple of 
liberty with three millions, and every seventh man a slave. We 
have grown to be a nation of more than 60,000,000, and every maa 
a freeman. They built thirteen states and stretched their settle- 
ments along the Atlantic borders. We have penetrated the wilder- 
ness, changed it into a garden, ribbed it with railways, and strung 
it with wiry nen^es. They fought for existence and gained a foot- 
hold, by self-denial and courage that are unexampled. They opened 
the doors to the continent on the north and south, on the east and. 
west. They led the way to opulence, to developing the resources, 
of field and mine, and made a home for every lover of liberty in all 
lands and climes. We have seen that the work so well begun has. 
neen carried on, until today we stand before the world as the freest, 
the best cultured, the richest and most powerful nation of the world. 
Liberty in America differs from liberty elsewhere. We do not. 
deny that in Germany there is liberty to think, to speak, to write. 
The German mind is cultured. There is freedom to develop brain 
and muscle and heart, but in it there are restridlions which cramp 
men and lie back of the exodus from the German empire into our 
republic. In their idea of liberty is the sacredness of the royal 
family and the perpetuity of the empire. While there is freedom 
in the name there is a lack of it in the fact, which lays a palsying 
touch on the aspirations of the people. British liberty is a fa(5l ; 
England has been called Judah's lion. The spirit of Judaism in- 
carnates itself in the British empire. Conquest is the law of its. 
being, and supremacy the genius of its institutions. There is in 
the government the right of the king and the perpetuity of the em- 
pire, despite the wishes and efforts of the people. There is liberty 
in certain directions, but not in all direAions. French libert}' is. 



1 86 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

poorer, weaker, than British or German Hberty, because it leaves 
out of its constitutional scope the granite characteristics of those in- 
stitutions which incorporate into their framework those thoughts of 
God that carry with them endurance, perpetuity and power. In 
the zoological gardens of Paris there is an aviary where the eagles 
are reared. Over the trees is a wire network. The young ones 
try it, beat their wdngs against the iron barricade and then imitate 
their parents. So they raise men in Europe. Scholars are there, 
philosophers are there, but for man there is no open path to the 
highest place. The rise of the United States began the great era 
of self-government in the world. God is the author of the princi- 
ple and humanity the recipient of the benefaction. In America 
liberty means absolute freedom to be or to do all that God's gifts 
enable us to accomplish. There is no restraint on merit or man. 
The path opens from the hovel of the humblest to the highest and 
grandest position which man was ever permitted to fill. Cruelty 
and blood had been the principal features in government from 
Babylon to the declaration of American independence. 

"Westward the star of empire takes its way. 

The first four acts already passed ; 
The fifth shall close the drama with the day. 

Time's noblest empire is the last." 

The fourth of July marks an epoch in humanity from which 
dates the growth of a spirit in harmony w^ith the purposes of the 
gospel and in line with prophetic foreshadowing. We only know 
a little of what is yet to be known of God's purpose. Here and 
there we catch a glimpse of the plan being wrought out in accord- 
ance with infinite wisdom. 

Freedom for all is the outgrowth of our American life. The up- 
lift in favor of liberty, and the success which attended the efforts of 
our fathers, caused monarchies to lighten the pressure of their iron 
heel upon the neck of the millions. Hence, the going out of the 
inquisitorial auto-da-fes, and the persecution of the good and true. 
The rise of the United States was the era of a new national moral- 
ity. Might no longer made right. Humanity arose at our dawn. 
To the oppressed of the earth, arms were outstretched, and the 
w^eary and heavy laden were invited to find in America a refuge 
and a home. As a nation, we sympathized with the woes of the 
unfortunate. The cry of starving Ireland, Hungary lifting up 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 187 

manacled hands, Poland under the heel of Russian despotism, tlie 
famine-smitten millions of India, found in the hearts of this nation 
sympathy and support. Our cry has been : Whosoever will, let 
him come, and share our inheritance, and take shelter under the 
stars of our banner, and find beneath the aegis of our protection an 
opportunity to live and to be. And vs^hile millions crowd our gates, 
the crv is. There is room for millions more. The desire of all na- 
tions is here, and to it the nations come. As a result, our republic 
exerts a felt influence upon the nationalities of the earth. Here Ire- 
land finds the fulcrum on which to place the lever of her great de- 
sire for deliverance from the oppressions which deaden her hopes 
and blight her prospers. The Russian patriot preaches the gospel 
of dynamite, because his rulers will not listen to the evangel of 
republican desire. 

Around the mosques of Constantinople, and beneath the shadows 
of the pyramids of Egypt, the pulse quickens as men listen to 
what liberty has achieved in this western land. They feel that the 
world awoke from its long sleep when our republic took its place 
as the leader of the highest and noblest aspirations of men. Then 
the press, the luminary of liberty, arose like a splendid sun from 
the deep of chaos, and through the rifted clouds flashed a bewildering 
brightness on the path of mankind when it found in the new world 
a theatre for the display of its power. Europe chained her Bibles 
to her altars, America scattered them among the people. Books, 
printed truths, each year and month and day, like rays of light, 
pour their splendors on the immortal mind, through all our hemi- 
sphere. Here burns the lamp of eternity on every table of the rich, 
and in every cottage of the land, lighting the soul with knowledge 
of its sublimity and the lustre of Christianized humanity. Here 
science and art have sowed seed of perennial fruit whose blossoms 
fill the air with fragrance, and promise to bend the boughs with 
abundant hai^vest. Schools, like fountains, send forth streams of 
gladness, and all our children may be taught. Agriculture, com- 
merce and manufa(5lures received a fresh impulse from the rise of 
this republic. Land had been tilled from Adam's time to ours, but 
when an empire was at once put under tribute by improved modes 
of production, then new methods became a necessity. Today, one 
man, with the aid of machinery, can accomplish more than a score 
of men could achieve in the past. Labor-saving implements, in 



1 88 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

every department of industry, are the wonder of the hour. At the 
formation of this union, commerce was but a fishing smack. Now 
navies ride the seas. The ocean has been changed into a river, 
and steam has so nearly annihilated space that distant nations are 
neighbors, and, electricity having become our servant, we chat famil- 
iarly with denizens of London, St. Petersburg, Berlin or Pekin, as 
we will. A few years ago, manufactures were mere crudities. We 
furnished the raw material, and sent it across the seas to be made up. 
Now the skilled labor of America is the glory of industry, and our 
inventive genius is the wonder of the world. The old world gave 
to Columbus the compass, that it might give to the new world in- 
habitants. But over here they have built the altar of liberty, and 
the radiance of the fire kindled illumines the waste places of 
humanity. In the old world they invented printing, but America 
is the land of newspapers. The telegraph, the telephone, the steam 
printing press, are American inventions, and they carry good cheer 
to the millions. The old world had ceased to be a fit arena on 
which the divine purpose conne6led with the church should be 
carried out. Despotism had so choked the rising germ of liberty 
that no fair hope remained that she should ever come to any consid- 
erable maturity. Religion can thrive and expand itself in all its 
native luxuriance only in the atmosphei*e of political freedom and 
religious tolerance, where social rights are not systematically invad- 
ed and social intercourse trammeled by aristocratic pride. It is 
the nature of religion to bind heart to heart, and to make all one in 
Christ ; the fatherhood of God, the glory, and the brotherhood of 
man, the purpose. Free, unbounded, disinterested benevolence is 
its genius. It is a kingdom above all the kingdoms of the earth, 
incorporating its subjects into a society of its own peculiar kind. 
Hence, in the new world, as nowhere else, a free church becomes 
possible in a free state. The outgrowth is loyalty to truth and free- 
dom in its enunciation. This nation, says Motley, stands on the 
point towards which other peoples are moving — the starting point, 
not the goal. Destiny has placed it, more immediately than other 
nations, in subordination to the law governing all bodies political, 
as inexorably as Kepler's law controls the motion of the planets. 
The law is progress ; the result democracy. 

DeTocqueville saw this, and exhorted his countrymen and the 
people of Europe to accept the faCl that democracy was the pre- 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 1 89 

ordained condition of the human race — a condition to which the 
world is steadily tending, because of the life we have lived and of 
the influence we are exerting upon the nationalities of earth. This 
freedom for all brings mighty blessings in its train. Think what it 
saves us from : A standing army. In Europe 12,454,667 are in the 
standing armies, vv^ith ships, ironclads and unarmed vessels in 
proportion. The 346,625,747 people in Europe stagger under 
national debts amounting to more than twenty billions of dollars. 
Of this vast sum £13,700,796 is paid to the ruling families. 

We have seen what it saves us from. Let us see what it saves 
us to. John Bright, in a recent speech concerning this country, 
said : "There is an extraordinary condition of things in this land, 
which no other country in any age of this world has ever expe- 
rienced or even dreamed of. There is an actual surplus of over 
thirty millions sterling. Why, our chancellor of the exchequer pot- 
ters about w^ith a million or two millions. He puts a penny on the 
income tax one day, and another takes it off. Again one day he 
gives a quarter of a million to the country gentlemen to help them 
to repair their roads, and then finds he cannot find the mone}^, and 
does not do it. The chancellor of the exchequer of the United 
States, monarch, apparently, of all he surveys, deals with heavy 
sums, the magnitude of which we cannot measure and cannot con- 
ceive, but a lump sum of thirty millions of dollars sterling. The 
government does not know what to do with it." In this he is mis- 
taken. We know enough to pay our honest debts, and not lavish 
it upon royal families or to keep up a great standing army. Had 
the war with the south continued, we should have been compelled 
to support an army of over 400,000 men. Now we have less than 
25,000, and our navy is only a name. We are paying our public 
debt at a rate which alarms financiers. Is it a wonder that to this 
land the tax-oppressed millions of Europe turn with longing? We 
have proved to the world our loyalty to principle, and shown that 
when the national existence is imperilled, every citizen is ready to 
become a soldier. And while innumerable commanders start out of 
obscurity into fame, when their work is done they resolve them- 
selves once more into citizens, helped by the discipline and educa- 
tion incident to the life of a soldier. The V;ilue of man is being 
felt. The duty enjoined to be strong, and show thvself a man, is 
being recognized. Every man needs an hour, and ever}^ hour needs 



190 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

a man. Men have given chara6ler to nations, to science, to govern- 
ment, to religion, to law^. A people, no matter how cultured, how- 
wealthy, needs the help derived from a man who shall embody its 
views in the form of a distinctive utterance, and shall lead its 
thought and direct its energies in healthful and appropriate 
channels. Are we growing such men.? 

Freedom for all is the outgrowth of our American life. It is 
coming. The slaves of yesterday are freemen now, and education 
is fast advancing them with power. Are they what we dreamed 
they would be? The spirit of caste is still in the way of progress. 
But this must disappear and all things v^ill unite themselves. Yes- 
terday's slavery stood as if it could defy time, truth and Christianity. 
But it is gone. Caste must go to the same bourne and be buried 
in the same grave. 

The spirit of bigotry and persecution is giving way. The Bible 
is working out its wonderful mission. Christianity never was so 
generous. The different divisions of the great army never kept step 
so well, never had so much enthusiasm in promoting the largest 
good of the largest number, as now. In our Sabbath schools, the 
promise is good. But how are we to reach the unreached masses, 
who shun the chureh and sneer at the Sabbath school ? They are 
here. They are everywhere. They must be won, or the play of 
catching the Tartar will be re-ena6led. They will drag us down, 
at least fetter our march, if we don't lift them up and carry them on. 

Men are the outgrowth of our American life, I might have said a 
new order of men; and men built on a larger scale, and able to 
gi'asp greater problems, and fulfil a grander destiny, are being 
grown on this western continent. The capitalists of the sea-board 
attra(5l a great deal of attention. The names of our railroad kings 
are ever on the world's broad tongue. They control stock, they own 
newspapers, they try to buy out the law, hence their names are 
ever before the public eye. But as large men are owning the mines 
of the great west. As far-seeing men are running the big farms of 
the west, and are buying and growing and shipping the cattle from 
the west to the east. Think of a man with 50,000 acres of land in 
a farm that is being tilled. Think of an army of men, fed, paid 
and worked on one of those vast estates, that have not a patch, even 
for a flower garden, but all utilized and made remunerative. Think 
of our scholars. In astronomy Americans in enterprise vie with 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. I9I 

those of the oldest countries of Europe. In chemistry, in mineral- 
ogy and scientific research, we are leading the world. We ought 
to grow men taller, broader, and better than this w^orld ever saw. 
There is room at the top here, and God has work in reserve for the 
top. Seeing that God has called us with such an exceeding high call- 
ing, and blessed us in such an unrivaled w^ay, it becomes us to repeat 
the question which for eighteen centuries has been sounding in the 
ears of the Christian church : "What manner of persons ought ye 
to be.^" Nothing can retard this march of the people but the lack 
of faith. Call men, the best men, to the front, and believe in them. 
Let men be bold. Every man has his place and his opportunity. 
Thirty years ago diplomacy was secrecy. Now it is publicity. Every 
cabinet, every congress, meets, as it were, in the world's whispering 
gallery. No longer are the interests of constitutional libert}^ dealt 
with in secret, but the world reads today what was talked of yes- 
terday in the privacy of a cabinet council. Public opinion is mas- 
ter of kings and presidents. Russia was ever a terror to the whole 
world, because of her diplomatic intrigues. Today, on a level with 
Austria, England and other kingdoms, she is compelled to place 
her claims in the scale of justice, and have them weighed m sight of 
every eye. Truly, there is something on earth greater than arbi- 
trary or despotic power. The lightning has its power, so have the 
earthquake and the whirlwind, but there is something among men 
mightier than them all, and that is the threatening indignation of 
the civilized world. Today all nations have to conduct their affairs 
so as to meet the approval of all nations, else they are arrested in 
their march, and made to mend their ways. God said : " I will 
punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity ; 
and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and w411 lay 
low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will inake a man inore pre- 
cious than fine gold, even than the wedge of Ophir." This God is 
doing as never before. ' 'Paris is worth more than a mass," said Henry 
IV when he betrayed Protestantism and surrendered to Romanism. 
Henry gained a throne for a day, but France lost Henrv IV forever. 
History is a Nemesis without bowels, which punishes without pity. 
Then let us make manhood conse crated to the weal of humanity, 
so shall we grow Africans for Africa, Chinamen for China, and 
Americans for all races of men. Are such men to be put to use 
for the world's advantage ? John Bright stops in his talk to his neigh- 



192 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

bors to get in a few words for the workingmen of America. He 
claims to love America, to have fought her battles in England, whea 
for a time I was not sure that the contest would not go against her. 
"I have as much sympathy for the United States now as then, and 
as much, I think, almost as if I had been born upon her soil." We 
all remember the time we loved John Bright. But why should 
John Bright love us, and think of us, and some of our men not love- 
England, and plan for England ? Sometimes it seems to me that 
England needs our help, and if the right words wiere spoken, her 
policy might be changed for the better, and she might be relieved, 
from the curse which now affli6ts her. But will the time ever come 
when the people of the United States will take the world to their 
heart, and think for it and plan for it and work to help it ? Have 
we no mission to the nations of the earth, apart from building here 
a light-house, whose light shall cause the thrones of Europe to cast 
the shadow of their evening ? There are reasons to believe in the 
outcome of our American life for the world's advantage. It was 
on our shores the light for foreign missions was kindled. When* 
Havelock led England's armies to Burmah, he found our missiona- 
ries with Christ's banner unfurled. In our manufacturing establish- 
ments, we are creating fabrics for the wants of all nations ; on our 
pasture fields is grown the beef which in part supplies the markets, 
of England and Europe, and on our wheat fields bread is grown for 
the millions beyond the sea. 

Kossuth, in his Turkish prison, obtained, as he believed from; 
God, the conception that this republic had a mission to the peoples- 
of Europe, and he wrote a letter in which he expresses his faith that 
this country is to be the pillar of freedom as it already is the asylum, 
of oppressed humanity. He sought to get our republic to take the 
side of freedom against despotism, of right against wrong. "Free 
citizens of America," said he, "from your history, as from the stars, 
of hope in midnight gloom, we drew our confidence and resolution* 
in the doubtful days of severe toil. You are a power on earth. Youi 
should be a felt power on earth. It is a beautiful word of Montes- 
quieu's, that republics are to be founded on virtue, and you know 
that virtue, as sanctioned by the Christian religion, is but the ef- 
fedlive exercise of a principle." The time has not come. Up to- 
this hour the nation has never felt the importance of being a power 
among other nations. To thine own self be true,, has been, the one.- 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 1 93 

injundllon our statesmen have tried to give heed to. Is it not pos- 
sible that a higher power of control than man's is guiding us ? 

Some one, in studying our history, said : "Americans talk wildly 
and adl wisely." Is there not something in it ? Washington, in one 
of his letters to Lafayette, said: "Let us have twenty years of 
peace, and our country will come to such a degree of power and 
wealth that we will be able, in a just cause, to defy any power on 
earth." The twenty years have been many times gone. Then 
the nation was a big infant rocked in the cradle of favoring provi- 
dence. Now it is a giant. Our territory spreads to the Gulf of Mex- 
ico and the Pacific, and our territory is a world. Our right hand 
reaches Europe, and with our left we touch Asia and say to her 
awaking millions : " Be stilly don't let this pulse of freedom stir 
your hearts I Stay in your line and die, if need be, but never 
murmur." 

Europe comes to us, we do not go to Europe. Kossuth, with his 
matchless power, could not break through the unwritten law of the 
republic. The reason for it is found in the fa6l that at that time a 
man could not champion freedom without stirring the spirit of 
slaves, and causing them to clank their chains in such a way as to 
carry consternation and alarm to the homes of all the people on the 
earth. That man who stayed among the mountains of Hungary and 
by his magic words called 200,000 soldiers about him, and by 
the heat of his eloquence melted them into a thunder-bolt and 
hurled them upon the legions of Austria, found in America that 
we were not ready for him and that he was not ready for us. His 
speech in New York against neutrality produced a profound im- 
pression. He rode, for a time, the crested billows of popular favor. 
No man ever had such a welcome to our shores. He went to Bos- 
ton. He stood in Faneuil hall. He made a plea for liberty. Not 
American liberty, but liberty. How eloquent he was. ' 'My tongue," 
said he, "is fraught with a downtrodden nation's wrongs. I 
plead for liberty. Not European liberty, not American liberty, 
but liberty. God is God. He is not American or European 
God, but God. So should liberty be. Liberty never was lasting 
when regarded as a privilege, but only when regarded as a princi- 
ple. Aristocracy is exclusive liberty." Thus he spoke, and won 
all hearts. But some one asked, " What about slavery f' Then 
he broke, because he began to calculate. He called slaveiy a party 



194 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

measure, an internal and domestic co ncern. It was the great mis- 
take of his Hfe. 

The American people had no farther use for him, and this most 
eloquent man of the centuries went down to this low level of a 
people's pity because his heart could not plead for the oppressed 
blacks here, while he pleaded for the oppressed Hungarians beyond 
the sea. Liberty was liberty. At that time there was no outcome 
worthy of our American life. Our bird of freedom had but one 
wing ; now she has two wings, and can defy the storm and 
bathe her pinions in the sun of a new morning. Slavery hinders us 
no more. America is a power as never before among the nation- 
alities of earth, not so much because of any individual man, as 
because of the men we have grown and are growing. 

The outcome of our Afnerican life depends upon ottr con- 
for?nity with the purposes of our origin and the plan of our 
growth. It is essential that the nation, somehow, shall promote 
God's glory and the world's good, or there shall be no high endeav- 
or, no grand aim, no man, no community. No nation can safely 
live for itself alone. But it is not essential that we interfere wath 
the internal affairs of other nations to help them. We minister to 
the whole world when we live for God and humanity at home. 
The trust committed to this nation is simply awe-inspiring. Our 
banner is recognized as the ensign of liberty. Our religious life 
permeates the whole vast realm of human strife. Let the work go 
on for another century, and who can compute our numbers, who 
can measure our strength? 

There are battles to be fought if we would be prosperous. 

I. With inteniperaitce. 

Germany is being jeopardized by beer-drinking. Ireland is 
cursed with whiskey. Take the money used for strong drink in 
Ireland and England, and for beer in Germany, and they might 
dismiss their armies of constables, and peace and prosperity would 
come to Ireland and wealth would flow in upon the German em- 
pire. 

Whiskey and beer threaten to ruin us. The fight being waged 
with these enemies of social order and of thrift is of God. There 
is a waking up among the people ; the burden is on them. Mil- 
lions feel that this liquor traffic is the mother and monster crime 
of our nation, producing more than four-fifths of all the crime, 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 1 95 

poisoning the heart of industry, paralyzing the arm of commerce, 
robbing and crushing labor, and bankrupting capital. "Man has 
suffered more from intemperance," says Gladstone, "than from war, 
pestilence, and famine combined." This great scourge of mankind 
is the monster we must throttle or it will throttle us. 

2. Ignorance. 

The people must be educated. All this people, charadler, cul- 
ture, capacity, unite in making the force that wins. 

J. Infidelity a?id ir religion. 

Don't let us be afraid to let Christianity come to the front and 
keep the banner unfurled for all. Then shall this country be like 
a throne seated above all lands, upon the highest region of the 
globe. Its temple, like itself, shall be new, and free, and glorious ; 
its dome, the great open sky ; its floor, the continent, bordered by 
seas ; its altar, the nation's heart ; its music, the cheerful voice of 
the myriads of the free ; its worship, the praise of the only and 
true God, who must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. 

Let the good work go on. The eftedl of our influence is won- 
derful. Every part of the civilized world has been stirred by the 
thought here awakened. The genius of our free institutions in- 
spires self-education and self-government. Let this work go on. 
There is no reason why kings should not give way to presidents, as 
in France, and why monarchies should not be exchanged for repub- 
lics. The principle of universal government lies in the seedling 
that enters into the constitution of the primitive church as organ- 
ized by the apostles in Jerusalem. This Jefferson saw in this God- 
purchased republic, in which the majority so governs that the rights 
of the minority are respected and conserved. 

4. It is foolish., as it is unnecessary., to flacate error or 
compromise with the enemies of truth. 

God is the author of prosperity. When Ephraim spoke trembling 
he exalted himself; when he offended in Baal he died. To sell 
truth for the favor of the enemies of God, w hether it is done by an 
individual, a church or a nation, is treason to the higher life. They 
that stand with God live with the ages. If it be true that Daniel 
and Paul are parts of the ^vorld's capital, because they were true, 
it is equally sure that others who are true shall enter into fel- 
lowship with Jesus Christ and become heirs of God to an inheritance 
which is incorruptible and undefiled. 



196 OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 

There is yet hope. God says : "When the wicked man turneth 
away from his wickedness that he hath done, and doeth that which 
is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive." The w^ay to pros- 
perity and success is open before us. Not by denouncing Roman- 
ists, nor by sanctioning Romanism, but by declaring that in this 
free land we are to see great progress among all classes ; that error 
need not be feared if truth is left free to combat it ; that we are to 
carry forward national interests with and by the help of Romanists 
as well as everybody else, and that in this emergency we need a 
leader true to God, true to country, and true to all the interests of 
all the people on this broad continent. 

Let us say, then, and rejoice because of it : 

"Freedom spreads her downy wings 
Over all created things ; 
Glory to the King of kings ! 
Bring the heart before his throne — 
Worship him, and him alone, 
He's the only King we own. 
And he has made us free." 

The hopeful side is found in the fadl that there are millions in 
this land who have not sold out. They are true to God. If the 
people are true, a president can do but little harm, whoever he may 
be. Public opinion is all-potent. Let congress be filled with men 
of views broad enough to take just measurements of our magnificent 
opportunities and of our duty, and there w^ill be no peril which we 
cannot meet and overcome. 

The rule of repression is not American. Shutting down on 
truth and bolstering up a lie is poor business, now and always. 
Strong, sturdy, manly speech is always in order. Let us have it, 
more and more. The theory that we are to live for the whole world 
will compel us to live wisely at home. If we are to invite nations 
to adopt liberal forms of government, we must show them that 
liberty is in no danger of becoming license, and that between a 
system that thinks only of self, and a system that thinks of God's 
glory and man's good, there is a disparity measured only by the dis- 
tance between heaven and hell. This land has been sown by the 
^winnowed seed of the centuries, and it becomes us not to be satis- 
fied with a hai"vxst that is not calculated to help mankind. 



OUTCOME OF OUR AMERICAN LIFE. 1 97 

5. The necessity for the exercise of supreme faith in 
God^s al?nighti7tess increases with our responsibility. 

Prejudice must give v/ay to principle, bigotry to loyalty, and the 
narrowness of sectarian hate to the wideness of patriotic devotion. 
The trust committed to the freedom-loving people of this land is 
simply awe-inspiring. Our banner is recognized as the ensign of 
liberty. Our political life is permeating the vast realm of human 
thought. While at the ballot box all votes weigh alike, we ought 
to remember that life tells upon destiny ; that the hope of the right- 
eous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall 
perish. Hence we owe it to humanity to be loyal to God and true 
to man. Let us stand with the Lord Jesus and refuse to sell out 
truth. Let us be full of large enthusiasm for all who need us, and 
then may we hope to live in conformity with God's purposes and 
our own highest good, and the outcome of our religious life shall 
result in giving a new opportunity to the brotherhood of man. 
Hence the republics which are yet to belt the globe are being min- 
istered unto by this nation born to God in a day. Let us, then, be 
full of large enthusiasm for all who need us, and then may we hope 
to live in conformity with the purpose of our origin and the plan of 
our growth, and the outcome of American life shall result in the 
emancipation of mankind. 




HON. J. R. LIBBY, 

BiDDEFORD, Me. 



THE FIGHT IN BIDDEFORD, 



The fight with Rome in Biddeford, Me., has some features that 
ought not to be lost from sight. The Saco river, before it empties 
into the ocean, has in it mighty opportunities for manufacturing pur- 
poses. At an early day cotton-mills were built in Saco. In 1840 
they began building mills in Biddeford. At the outset American 
help was employed, and thrift and prosperity blessed the town. 
The agent of the mills, in 1867, Avent or sent to Canada, and posted 
up bills, inviting Canadians to come to the town, promising them 
work and care. They came by the thousand, and drove out, as 
far as possible, Protestant help. As a result, they have impov- 
erished the town, though they may have enriched the manufacturers. 
As, in the south, negroes living in hovels and squalor do not com- 
pare with negroes living in homes and in comfort ; as a New Eng- 
land village, in which are all kinds of shops and businesses, is su- 
perior to a southern town with a few wealthy planters and with a 
mass of improvident workers ; so Protestant help is superior to 
Roman Catholic help, because the one has thrift, the other is en- 
slaved to the priests. 

Saco and Biddeford prove what I say. In Saco, Protestants have 
abundance. Evangelical churches are prosperous. In Biddeford, 
Roman Catholics are in poverty such as few have a conception of. 
The Roman Catholic churches, convents and parochial schools in 
Biddeford are large. The Roman Catholic people, as a rule, are 
poor. In some rooms fifteen feet square are two families, with two 
sets of children, living together ; and in a part of a house w^hich we 
would call small for an ordinary family, as many as forty-eight 
women, men and children have slept and lived. The state of morals 
can be imagined. Roman Catholicism never can be seen in a truer 
light than in Biddeford. The heartless cruelty of the priests of Rome 
is seen in many ways. The people are poor, and yet the priests 
have had a fair in a rink, opened after every pay-day. Every Roman 

199 



200 THE FIGHT IN BIDDEFORD. 

Catholic is compelled to buy a season ticket, for one dollar. Then 
after they receive their money, they are almost driven to this fair, 
vsrhere, by lotteries and gift enterprises, all their money is taken from 
them, and they are left to go on a nd get on as best they can. It is 
terrible. It is pitiable. 

Children are taken out of the public school, and, if the priests 
cannot send them to the parochial sc hool, they are left to grow up 
in ignorance. A priest took a little b oy by his two ears, lifted him 
up and slammed him down, because he did not go to the parochial 
school. He chanced to have a fathe r that could protect him, and 
when the father went to the priest and asked what he meant by such 
cruelty, the priest replied, "I thought he was from the shipyard." 
The father said : "Shipyard or not, you have no right to treat any 
child in so cruel a manner." The foreigners are Democrats. In 
obedience to the priests, they elect tools of the church, though they 
may be nominally Protestants. As a reward all kinds of jobs are 
given to them, and the debt is increased. 

This v^as the situation. A young man saw the needofBidde- 
ford, and wrote and asked me if I would not come there and preach. 
I replied I would if invited. As a result, all the evangelical minis- 
ters united in the invitation. The Y. M. C. A. voted to give the 
use of their hall, and on the 14th of November I came to this town, 
where there are two Roman Catholics to one Protestant, a town 
from which repeatedly Protestant lecturers have been driven out. 
Rev. Mr. Williams, our French missionary, had his meeting broken 
up in the hall, and a Mr. Devlin was taken from the platform and 
driven away. Evidently the Romanis ts intended my defeat, if not 
my death. On Monday night there was little apparent opposition. 
On Tuesday night it broke out. On Wednesday morning, I found 

on my table at the hotel this Irish note : "You son of a who 

tied my horse to a lamppost, if you get out ofjtown without a broken 
head, you miss my guess." Signed, "Adolphus Smith." Wed- 
nesday afternoon I addressed the ministers at Portland. On Thurs- 
day evening, after a meeting of remarkable power in the hall, I met 
a howling, hooting mob on the street, which started to follow me to 
my home. For perhaps eighty rods they followed, crying, "Shoot 
him ! " "Hit him !" etc., when I said this ought not to be allowed. 
The policemen with me were in full sympathy with the right and 
with free speech. We passed two carts in the street. Qiiick as 



THE FIGHT IN BIDDEFORD. 201 

lightning they sprang into the road, commanded the crowd to stop, 
and we went home attended only by friends. On Friday evening 
the meeting at the hall surpassed anything I ever witnessed. My 
subject w^as, "The Cost of a Surrender to Rome." I spoke of a 
soul imperiled by the errors of Romanism ; of the apprehensiveness 
felt because of the fa6l that all Roman Catholics believe that they 
must go to purgatory, while Liguori teaches that the fire of purga- 
tory is ten times hotter than the fire of hell ; of the peril coming to 
a community that surrenders to Rome. I placed Biddeford's 
$200,000 debt beside Saco's freedom, and then appealed to Protest- 
ants to work for the disenthrallment of the people, by preaching, 
tra(5l distribution and personal solicitation. At the close of the dis- 
course resolutions were passed by a rising and unanimous vote, 
Roman Catholics voting for them, endorsing the positions taken and 
declaringthat "by organization, consecration and unyielding devotion 
to God's work we will continue to press this battle at all points, and 
along all lines, until that galvanized paganism in Biddeforcl, known 
as the Roman Catholic church, shall feel the power of God's wrath 
and indignation, and the suffering vi6tims of its iniquity be permit- 
ted to enjoy all the rights and privileges of American citizenship." 
From the hall, where all was love, to the street, where all was hate, 
required but a moment to go. Never did I see anything to match 
it. There is, in the Metropolitan museum of New York, a pi(5lure 
of a priest on the way to the Inquisition, with his face towards the 
tail of the horse, and a howling mob about him. There were men 
with clenched fists and open mouths, and women filled with cursing. 
I saw such a crowd in Biddeford. The mayor had looked on in 
silence, if not with satisfadlion. The police worked hard to stop 
the mutiny. Headed off in one street, they crowded in upon 
another. The president of the Y. M. C. A. walked with me, when 
a leaden bar, four inches long, two wide and one thick, a murder- 
ous weapon, struck hTs arm while it covered my own. The crowd 
was so great that they carried me into a dark alley and into a good 
Methodist home, where I passed the night. On Saturday three 
telegrams came to me at Wollaston Heights, insisting on my return. 
On Monday I went back, and, with Rev. Theodore Gerrish, one of 
the most eloquent men of the Methodist denomination, and as brave 
a man as I ever saw, called on the mayor, who had said that he 
would like to pay a man to kick me out of town. We found him 



2 03 THE FIGHT IX BIDDEFORD. 

stung by the terrible words of Gerrish and citizens, and satisfied that 
matters had gone far enough. I told hi m my purpose was not to be 
followed home by a crowd again, but to stop U7ider the first elec- 
tric light and address them., and read to thon the word of God. 
He thought it madness. I told hi?7i it vjould be done. Whether 
that or something else kept the crowd away, I know not. When 
the meeting was over there was no disturbance, and there has been 
none since, while hundreds have come to Christ. 

This is the result. One of the brave business men of Biddeford, 
who stood by the cause of liberty, was the dry-goods merchant, 
Hon. J. R. Libby, a picture of whose face is given herewith. Mr. 
Libby lost so much of his Catholic trade as was under the dire6l 
control of the priestly boycott. But this loss was more than made 
good by new patrons who came grandly to his support. 

The people of Biddeford see that Romanism is an expensive lux- 
ury. The churches are organizing to preach Christ to Romanists. 
The work is going on ; the ball is rolling. It will go through Maine. 
It opens a path into Romanism for liberty. 



REV. CHARLES CHINIQUY. 



Rev. Charles Chiniquy was born in Kamouraska, Canada, July 30, 
1809. His father, who was a lawyer, owned a Bible, and his mother, 
who was his first teacher, taught him to read the holy book. He 
learned many chapters by heart, and repeated them to groups of 
neighbors, or on Sundays at the door of the church. The parish 
priest finally demanded that the Bible be given up to be burned, but 
the father refused, and ordered the priest from his house. 

His mother was left a widow with three orphan children. The 
priest seized and drove away the cow, whose milk formed the prin- 
cipal part of the children's food, on the plea that she owed money 
for prayers that he had sung for the repose of the father's soul. 

He was ordained a priest of Rome, in the cathedral of Quebec, 
Sept. 21, 1833, and became one of the vicars of St. Rock, Quebec, 
in 1834. ^^ ^^3^ ^'^^ became a curate at Beaufort, a place previously 
ruined through drunkenness. Here he com.menced his work as a 
temperance leader, was persecuted by bishops and priests, but de- 
fended by Presbyterian John Dougall of the Montreal Witness, who 
threw an arrow into his priestl}- soul never to be taken out. 

Father Chiniquy became the apostle of temperance for Canada, 
receiving a gold medal and a gift of $2500 from parliament. Two 
hundred thousand teetotalers followed his lead. 

In 1 85 1 he went to Chicago to establish a Catholic colony. He 
was persecuted by the hierarchy, and defended in court by Abraham 
Lincoln. 

In 1858, Father Chiniquy, with nearly his whole parish, left the 
church of Rome and ultimately became Presbyterians. It is claimed 
that 35,000 people have followed his lead out of Romanism. 

Since his conversion he has told the story of the cross in Great 
Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States, and has been 
mobbed a hundred times by Romanists, but wonderfully preserved 
through it all by God's providence. 

205 




REV. CHARLES CHINiaUY. 




NUN OF KENMARE. 



THE NUN OF KENMARE VERSUS THE 

DESPOTISM OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

IS POPERY IN THE WAY? 



"But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny 
before mv Father which is in heaven." Matt. lo : 33. 

To denv Jesus Christ before men is expensive business — more sa 
than many think, or than any one can know. To confess Jesus 
Christ is to assure recognition before God and the angels m heaven, 
and help from the good on the earth. The Nun of Kenmare is 
suffering from the effects of her rejection of Jesus Christ in attempt- 
ing to promote the worship of Mary. For the doing of this she had 
no excuse. Born into a Christian home, educated in a Bible-loving- 
family, privileged with knowing and reading the word of God, and 
then deliberately turning to the idolatries of Rome, she lost the 
help, the love, the confidence and the support that come from a con- 
fession of Christ. Rome made the most of her renunciation, hurried 
her into the taking of the nun's veil, made of her talents and used 
her as best it could to further superstitious practices. 

In the Irish- American Almanac of 1S84, an authority with all 
Romanists, is a sketch of the author of the Nun of Kenmare. In 
it we are told that "Miss Alary Francis Clare Cusack was born on 
May 6, 1830, in Dublin, and that she belongs to a family which has 
played no unimportant part in Irish history — a family which pro- 
duced a scion as Lord Chancellor Cusack, who was an intimate 
friend and admirer of the great Hugh O'Neill of Tyromen. She 
was educated in England, where she resided for many years and 
formed many friendships, but she never for a moment forgot that 
she was an Irish woman. 'I have the old blood in me,' she 
writes, 'although I was educated and lived in England many years.' 
At the age of sixteen she commenced to pen articles for the press. 
Being of an exceedingly studious nature and of a refined taste, she 

207 



208 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

took delight in tracing on paper the thoughts she entertained on 
various subjects. These essays were but the forerunners of the 
many works, more mature and more profound, which in later years 
made the convent of the Nun of Kenmare synonymous with the home 
of Irish literature." Alas, that she should have given her best days 
to the proclamation of error ! 

Her enthusiastic biographer declares "that from her childhood she 
evinced an innate desire to do works of charity and help the need}' ; 
and, prompted by a wish to devote her life to a mission of such a 
nature, in an untrammeled position, she joined a community of 
Protestant sisters, in which she entered on her career of charity. 
Here, however, she did not find herself altogether at home. Some 
idea induced her to believe that she was not, perhaps, in the right 
place, and this feeling grew into a conviction ; until, ere long, we 
see her bidding adieu to the community in question and embracing 
the Roman Catholic faith. Her entry into the Catholic church was 
quickly followed by her novitiate and subsequent profession of a 
nun. The late Cardinal Wiseman, who had confirmed her, re- 
ceived her into the convent soon after, on July 25, 1856. From the 
period when she became a Catholic his eminence urged her to con- 
tinue her work at the pen. He saw how talented she was, and he 
desired that her talents should be properly exercised and cultivated. 
Cardinal Wiseman held Miss Cusack in high esteem ; he encouraged 
her in all her undertakings, and a few days before his death he sent 
her a copy of the last work he ever penned.'' Thus a Romanist 
writes. 

In the year 1861 the late Miss O'Hogan, sister of the Lord 
O'Hogan, founded the convent of the Poor Clares at Kenmare, 
County Kerry. To assist her in her enterprise and to work it out 
successfully, the services of Sister Mary Francis and her money were 
put in requisition ; and it was for this reason she left England and 
threw in her lot v^ith the Abbess O'Hogan and the other sisters who 
were entering upon their work in the wilds of Kerry. The convent 
lies imbedded amid the heath-clad mountains of Kerry. Here the 
broad Kenmare sweeps in its serpentine course. Here Sister Mary 
Francis lived, teaching poor children and devoting herself to litera- 
ture. She contributed to the press in Ireland and America. 

When the Irish famine came, she became a great benefadlress. 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 209 

Vast sums were sent her, which she wisely distributed. The appa- 
ritions of Knock, which excited such wide-spread interest, were 
described by the Nun of Kenmare. These drew her thoughts 
thither, and were the originating cause why she, with the consent 
of Archbishop McEvilly, the ordinary of the diocese, founded the 
Convent of Poor Clares at Knock, near Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, 
of which in 1884 she was mother superior. 

Four years are gone. The convent at Knock has been abandoned. 
The apparition business proved to be a failure. The Nun of Ken- 
mare sought to be of service to the poor in the Roman Catholic 
church. The undertow of Romanistic hate and selfishness struck 
her, and has swept her out upon the same stormy deep that tossed 
with the wildest fury the bark on which Madame Guyon tried to 
ride, by the aid of Fenelon and such others as turned from the idol- 
atries of paganism to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

For the Nun of Kenmare, personally, I have only pity. She owes 
it to Christ and to her countrymen to repent, in dust and ashes, of 
her betrayal of Jesus Christ and of her turning from him as "the 
way, the truth and the life," to the worship of Mary. 

This is her language, in the book entitled "The Apparitions of 
Knock :" "There is no need to say how singularly devoted the Irish 
people have ever been to the mother of God." That language 
is misleading. We believe in God, self-existent, omnipotent, 
omniscient and eternal, without beginning and without end, and in 
Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, born of a virgin, and in the 
Holy Ghost. All this is ignored, and she claims that "Devotion to 
Mary is inseparable from true faith," and that the very first objedl 
of the unbeliever and the heretic is to deny or to disparage this de- 
votion. "And yet," she says, "it is at once the most sublime and, 
if we may say so, the most natural of all the devotions which the 
church teaches us. It is sublime because it is divine. Mary is the 
mother of God ; and it is therefore a sublime devotion, because the 
eternal God himself was the first to pay her honor. To no human 
being has he paid such honor." 

All this is false, and the Nun of Kenmare knows it. Jesus, at 
Cana of Galilee, utterly repudiated the mediatorial help of Mary. 
In Matt. 12 : 46-50, we find this language : "While he yet talked 
to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, 



2IO THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy 
mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 
But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my 
mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his 
hand" ( not to Mary, not to his brethren — for she was virgin no 
more, but the mother of other children who had grown to man- 
hood) "toward his disciples, and said. Behold my mother and my 
brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is 
in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." That 
settled it. Miss Cusack ought to have known it ; and yet she says 
that "To no human being has God paid such honor," while it is true 
that the humblest Christian ranks with Mary. On the cross, Christ 
refused to call her mother, but said to John, Behold thy mother, 
and to his mother he said. Woman, behold thy son, and from that 
hour John took her to his own house. Christ gave no sandlion to 
Mariolatry. Miss Cusack descended to the lowest depths as a Ro- 
man Catholic devotee, and wrote of the apparition of the Virgin 
Mary at the church of Knock, County of Mayo, Ireland. It is a 
pitiable story. It is claimed that two Irish women saw the appari- 
tion of Mary with Joseph and some one else — some think the apostle 
John and some St. Patrick. She claimed that going thither cured 
her, and hundreds, if not thousands, more, and as a result she de- 
sired to found a convent there. It was well enough to work the 
mine of deception. But, alas ! for Miss Cusack, she struck a good 
purpose, and that wrecked her. She proposed to found a convent, 
not to nurse superstitious pra6lices, but to teach Irish girls how to 
cook, make beds and do housework, how to knit, sew and make 
fabrics for which there was a demand, and from which thrift, 
might be derived. Rome had no use for this, and archbishops, 
bishops and priests joined in opposing her. She at length tired of 
that opposition, and came to America, hoping to be able to do here 
what she was denied the privilege of doing there. 

She says (p. 4 ) : "Four years have now elapsed since I came to 
America, by the desire of my bishop and with a heart full of hope for 
the extension of my work for Irish immigrants and working girls." 
Here she found unexpected difficulties. Irish priests were here 
scouring the country for money "to complete the unfinished spires 
of the cathedral at Queenstown, which were to cost a fabulous sum ; 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 211 

and whatever other virtues Roman Catholic prelates may have, 
counting the cost of buildings which their successors must finish is 
not one of them." 

Another obstacle was found in the faQ that a priest had opened 
an immigrants' home in New York, "and '- was told he was especially 
opposed to me, supposing that my plans might interfere with his, 
though nothing was further from my thoughts." She does not see 
that she was trying to deliver servant girls from the dominant con- 
trol of Rome, by fitting them for enlarged spheres of usefulness ; 
and that Archbishop Corrigan does not v^ant. He wishes them 
enslaved. Romanism thrives on servility and ignorance, not on 
freedom and education. In the Catholic schools of New York more 
than 1,200 out of 10,000 children can neither read nor write. It 
was always the desire of Rome to have her people remain in ig- 
norance. "Keep them stupid and you keep them religious" is a 
maxim of the Jesuits. 

Let the. Nun of Kenmare return to Christ, confess her sins and 
help Protestant women to work out her conception, and something 
may be done. 

Archbishop Corrigan will have none of it. Nor will Romanists 
have it anywhere. Invited by a priest to Cleveland, she met with 
the opposition of the bishop and was driven away. There she 
Wrote a series of articles uncovering and setting forth her plans. 
This excited his ire. Rome hates the press. The bishop did not 
controvert the articles v^hich she was writing, but he ordered her 
"either to stop writing or leave the cloisters" (p. 454). He de- 
clared it was impossible to be a true religious and to write. That 
in America ? No wonder Rome insists on parochial schools, where 
genius may be cramped and talents may be stunted. 

In 18S7, she was offered a place in Tacoma, W. T. The bishop 
accepted her, and all seemed to be well until tidings reached Arch- 
bishop Corrigan, when the way was hedged up once more. "O 
strange, O mysterious providence ! " cries the Nun of Kenmare. 
"Ecclesiastics complain that the sheep of the fold are persecuted and 
oppressed, and they will not allovs^ them to be saved. Everywhere 
in America Protestant institutions for working girls, and many other 
charities, abound and prosper ; and yet the Roman Catholic church 
denounces them and denounces those of her children who mav re- 



212 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

celve any help from them in their hour of need, while she refuses 
help herself." Cannot the Nun of Kenmare see the reason? It 
pays to serve Jesus Christ. In his service man's highest nature is 
provided for and all his faculties are developed. In Rome all is 
different. Where Rome rules, there are ignorance, squalor, degra- 
dation and vice. The Nun of Kenmare uses this language : 
''Everywhere Rome exults, not in the number of her faithful poor, 
not that she has fewer criminals, not that her people are living holier 
or more devoted lives, or abstaining from that fatal liquor which is 
the curse of so many of her children ; no, her exultation and her joy 
is in the great and the rich of this world" (p. 458). 

She heard of an opening in St. Paul, Minn. She made applica- 
tion, and again met not only with decided opposition, but with re- 
buff* published in the organ of Bishop Ireland. This is it: "Will 
any one at this late day number among claimants of charity that re- 
ligious Poo Bah, political economist, hogiographer, young girls' 
adviser, pamphleteer, mistress of novices, historian, beggar and 
nun, who for twenty years and more, both in Ireland and America, 
has been an irrepressible nuisance ? Will any one in his right mind 
give any more money to squander, after the monument of folly she 
has left at Knock?" Pio Nono approved of her objedl. Arch- 
bishop Corrigan sat down on it, and the bishops and priests of 
America follow his lead. The man who threatened to resign if the 
pope stood with McGlynn was as bitterly opposed to the Nun of 
Kenmare. Both are for the advancement of Roman Catholics. 
As a result, both are subje6ted to the enmity of Rome. 

At last she is permitted to see Archbishop Corrigan in his palace. 
Let her describe the interview : "He saw me alone, and the sister 
who came with me waited in the anteroom. The archbishop began 
with making the absurd charge against me of having said 'I would 
collect wherever I pleased, in spite of all ecclesiastical authority, 
and that I had no papers giving me permission to do so.'" She 
denied the charge. "He replied, he could prove it by a letter, and 
went from the room to get it, and returned smiling his satisfa6lion, 
as one would do who would forever silence and condemn an of- 
fender by indisputable testimony. But he had no letter. All he 
had was a statement made by a priest, whose name he would not 
give, that he had searched an entire day through the papers of a 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 213 

gentleman who was dead, looking for the letter, and could not find 
it. I looked at the archbishop in simple amazement, and I must 
admit, only the matter was so serious, I should have felt inclined to 
smile. At last I said : 'And so, your grace, this is the charge : 
I am accused by a priest, whose name you will not tell me, of hav- 
ing written to a gentleman who is dead, whose name you will not 
give, on a date which you will not tell me, and of having said that 
I would a6l in defiance of ecclesiastical authority.' His reply was : 
'I am sure you wrote the letter, all the same.' I replied : 'Then, 
your grace, there is no more to be said.' His grace then turned oft' 
the question to another charge. 'At all events, I can prove that 
your sisters have been colledting in my diocese without leave ;' and, 
as I looked incredulous, he continued, with an air of triumph : 
'There is no doubt of it ; a priest of your own diocese reported it 
to me.' Now I knew that a great many of the priests of Newark 
diocese were very angry with their bishop for receiving us, as they 
had said so openly, and sometimes very rudely to myself, and this 
for very different reasons. Those who are not acquainted with the 
inside history of the Roman Catholic church, and imagine that there 
is a dead level of harmony and peace, or a perennial fountain of 
mutual charity ever flowing, are sadly mistaken. I have heard 
bishops spoken of by their priests in the most contemptuous terms, 
who, the next moment, would sign a document pouring forth the 
most extravagant laudations on the object of their contempt. It is 
true that these priests justify this double-dealing by the necessity of 
the case : the bishop requires the address ; it must be presented, and 
it would be very difficult for any priest to refuse his signature." 
When she showed the archbishop the authorization by the pope of 
the "Order of Sisters of Peace," he threw it contemptuously on the 
table and said : " 'Oh, I have seen this before ; it is merely a toler- 
ation.' 'Well,' I replied, 'as the holy father has tolerated me, 
I wish your grace would tolerate me.' The archbishop, being much 
annoyed, asked, after a long pause, 'Have you a convent in Rome ? ' 
She replied : 'We have not.' 'When you have a convent in Rome 
I will allow you to have one in New York.'" Before she left, 
the archbishop told the Nun of Kenmare that he wished never to see 
her again, and requested her to keep out of his diocese. This is the 
story, in brief, of the Nun of Kenmare, and of the reception given 



214 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

her purpose to aid the working girls of America. What will the 
working girls of America do about it ? 

J. Popery is hi the way because of its utter antagonis77i to 
the amelioration ajid advancement of woman. 

There is not on earth anything more hopeless than woman in the 
church of Rome. In lands where Rome is supreme, she is kept 
and used as a b?;ast of burden. She toils in the field, and is not in 
advance of women in the western forests ruled by barbarians ; and 
yet these women, brutalized, beaten and oppressed, dare not hear 
the voice of offered help, and will not turn from the hanS that smites 
them, nor break away from the fetters that bind them. 

Priests do not allow Roman Catholics to give money as they 
please. "The confessional is very much used for this purpose. But 
it is often done publicly, as a priest will forbid his people, even from 
the altar, to give to a charity he does not like, or command them to 
boycott a man that has fallen under his displeasure." This is justly 
complained of by devout Roman Catholic girls who have earned 
their money and believe they have a right to do as they like with 
their own, especially after they have given the priest all they can 
spare for himself. 

Says the Nun of Kenmare : "Soon after I came to America, a 
priest in New York was very anxious to help me, and wished to do 
something for us on St. Patrick's day, thinking there could be no 
objections to helping a work approved by the pope. He asked for 
10,000 circulars for distribution. But before his benevolent plans 
were carried into execution, they were peremptorily stopped, and 
he was threatened with prompt ecclesiastical penalties if he at- 
tempted to assist me in this way." So the work was hindered, for 
there are not many who would dare brave ecclesiastical displeasure. 
She says, very sorrowfully : "If I had proposed, either as a secu- 
lar Roman Catholic or as a Protestant, to establish liquor saloons or 
houses of doubtful character, no bishop would have interfered to 
prevent my doing so. The liquor saloon is always useful to the 
Roman Catholic church, and must not be too much discouraged, 
though obviously it is necessary to condemn it in theory. But what 
matters this, when all the mandates of a council are pointed at as 
an evidence of zeal, and at the same time left to lie as a dead letter.? 
It must be admitted, however, that no other religious body is so de- 



THE NUX OF KENMARE. 215 

pendent upon the liquor saloon interest as the Roman Catholic 
church. In fadl, it is the only religious body that looks to this in- 
terest for support ; and it is but justice to say that if the money ob- 
tained from this source directly, as well as indirectly, were with- 
drawn, some institutions would have a poor lookout. The liquor 
saloon-keeper, who bosses the wards, knows how to obtain govern- 
ment money and subsidies for orphan and other institutions, and, 
with the most free and generous hand, these men contribute to every 
Catholic charity. It is none the less true, however, that it is a cry- 
ing shame for the Roman Catholic church to oblige sisters to depend 
upon collections in such places for their support ; and this in a 
church which can obtain millions of money for any purpose, and 
could save the sisters all this degradation and waste of time and en- 
ergy which should be given to the service of the poor" (pp. 428-9) . 

The purpose of the Nun of Kenmare is thus set forth : "I pro- 
pose to train girls in a practical way for domestic life, so that any 
girl so trained will be, I hope, equally fit for domestic service and 
for married life." "The inmates of each training house vs^ould be 
divided into groups or families often or twelve. Each group should 
have their own table, their own bed-rooms, and separate places for 
cooking in the general kitchen. The objedl of this division is to 
teach each girl how to cook, keep accounts and provide for a small 
family ; that same company should be given charge of the linen and 
needlework, and again of the laundry. Thus each girl would be 
trained to do domestic work economically and well." She also pro- 
posed to connect with it boarding places for girls working in fac- 
tories and stores, where they might partly earn their living. 

Hon. John Kelly approved of the measure. The archbishop 
of New York, and archbishops, bishops and priests elsewhere in the 
United States and in Ireland, opposed it. Today, the servant girls 
and the sewing girls connected with the Roman Catholic church are 
held as slaves to the church. They are kept in deplorable ignorance. 
They are taught not to read the Scriptures. The most terrible su- 
perstition rules them, and unless God's grace helps good people to 
go to them and teach them the way of life, they are lost for time and 
for eternity. 

The words of the Nun of Kenmare ought to rouse the women of 
the Roman Catholic church to effort, and make them insist upon 



2l6 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 



Archbishop Corrigan changing his course, or find out a reason 
why. Will they do it? Probably not. It is woman's way to kiss 
the hand that smites her, and in the church of Rome this is true to 
an extent found nowhere else. 

The Boston Herald says the book which she has written is much 
more damaging than "Why Priests Should Wed."' This may be 
true. Her language confirms the statements of "Why Priests 
Should Wed," and does much more. It reveals a despotic hate 
which will create surprise, and an indifference to the weal of the 
people utterly inconsistent with the pretensions of a church whose 
representatives are clamoring at our front doors and with a whining 
tone crying, "Please give us something for the poor." Like Judas, 
Rome carries the bag, and betrays the Lord in the person of his poor. 

2. Popery is in the way because of the immorality of priests. 

The scandals uncovered in the book deserve more than a passing 
notice. She says : "I know there are thousands of Roman Cath- 
olics who have not even the least idea of the evils which, unhap- 
pily, I know too well. My knowledge of these things has come 
from no seeking of mine, but through the course of a very remark- 
able providence. There is a passage in Cardinal Newman's Apol- 
ogy (p. 271 ) where he touches on the subjedl of the character of 
priests ; and he asks why they should live so self-sacrificing a life 
if they were not sincere in doing so." She simply doubts the 
knowledge of Cardinal Newman, and has heard priests under him 
speaking of him most disrespectfully ; but of course such disrespedl 
could never reach Cardinal Newman (p. 27). "I knew a bishop 
who was living in Rome in the Vatican, and on the most intimate 
terms with the late Cardinal Antonelli, when the latter was living a 
sinful life, and he knew nothing of it and could scarcely credit it ;" 
while we know that Cardinal Antonelli, of the pope's household, 
lived in criminal indulgence with a woman and by her had children, 
and that his daughter by another woman has fought in the courts for 
her inheritance. The Nun says : "The first faint breath of suspicion 
that anything could be wrong in those who were devoted to the ser- 
vice of God came to me at this time, in the Newry convent ; but I 
put it from me with the consoling refle6lion that scandals must come. 
Later I had to learn, to my infinite grief, that scandals of a, most 
serious kind exist., and exist unreproved., which is the real evil" 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 21 7 

"A French lady, who was governess in the family of a friend, spoke 
of the priest of our mission in a way which I considered most dis- 
respectful, and for which she maintained that she had cause. She 
gave a history of her experiences with priests very freely, and in a 
way which was not calculated to make them respedled, as a body, 
if her statements were true." This is the fashionable way of writ- 
ing about the scandals of the church of Rome. For the first time, 
fadls and statements were gathered from sources worthy of credence 
and wei-e placed in "Why Priests Should Wed" in such a way that 
the reader might see that there was filth, pollution and damaging 
conduct without being compelled to read what is damaging to the 
heart of the reader. Therefore, the vile is left out, but it is so left 
out that the dullest intelle6l can measure the infamy of a church that 
tolerates such vileness. The Nun confirms the truth of the state- 
ments made by Miss Bunkley and Edith O'Gorman. She says : 
"The vows of the Irish Poor Clares are also simple vows; and, 
though the vow of inclosure forbids the sisters to go outside of the 
convent grounds without the permission of their bishop, they have 
no grating in the parlors, and seculars and even gentlemen can go, 
and do go, through the convent, especially in Kenmare, where the 
sisters go into the public church and into the grounds belonging to 
the church, which adjoins the convent." She then relates how a 
priest, who assisted at her reception at Newry, became intemperate 
(p. 36) ; how another desired her to dedicate her book, "St. Fran- 
cis of Assisi," to him. "His anger was the first painful intima- 
tion I had that priests w^ere, after all, human. Still, with all pos- 
sible allowance for poor humanity, I certainly have met, in some 
priests, instances of almost childish intolerance and readiness to take 
offence, such as are far less common among men of the world. I 
have found that priests are the very last persons who will forgive 
either a willful or an imaginary offence" (p. 38). She tells of a 
Franciscan priest who, obtaining an advanced copy of her book, "re- 
published it without the slightest acknowledgment, and never even 
condescended to reply to my expostulations." '''•The priests are 
frote6ied by the bishops^ no inatter what they do.'" It is not 
different in Brooklyn or Ne^v York, as the case of Father Mc- 
Cartney in Brooklyn, described in "Why Priests Should Wed," 
abundantly proves. She says : "The Roman Catholic bishop ex- 



2l8 THE NUN OF KEXMARE. 

ac5ts the most abject submission to himself from the priest; but, in 
return, he puts the shield of his protection, in a way which no Cath- 
olic dare dispute, over the actions of the priest — a facl which will 
explain many matters which are not easily understood by those who 
have not had experience" ( p. 39 ) . She believes that there will be 
a reaction against the Roman church in America, unless there is a 
reform in that church, w^iich its past history does not lead us to 
hope for. A church which claims infallibility in all its doings, as 
well as for its doctrines, \vill neither listen to a cry for needed re- 
forms nor avert calamit}^. And it will not even learn from history. 

J. Popery is in the ivay because it is the perso7iiJzcation of 
despotism. 

The pope is an absolute despot. Claiming infallibility, he re- 
fuses to be governed even by the principles and sentiments that in- 
fluence other rulers. What can be more brutal than the words ad- 
dressed to the Irish people, saying, "The people of Ireland prefer 
the gospel of Dillon and O'Brien to the gospel of Jesus Christ" "^ 
Irishmen have put and carried an amendment, so that it reads : The 
people of Ireland prefer the gospel of Dillon and O'Brien to the 
gospel of Leo XIII. On this line Irishmen are preparing to fight it 
out. 

The Nun of Kenmare tells how she v^as compelled to leave the 
convent. A sister, in love with Bishop Higgins, attacked her in 
the most violent way, again and again. At last she said : "If your 
affection for Father Higgins obliges you to treat a sister in this way, 
I am sorry for you and for him ; but if you continue speaking to 
ine so rudely I will leave the room, but, remember, I will never 
enter it again." She continued, and the Nun of Kenmare went out 
to return no more. Her revelations of convent life are sickening. 

A sister in New York was sent to the Insane asylum on Black- 
well's island. The history of the case is most pathetic. Her brother 
obtained her discharge and, when asked why he did not make the 
case public and so prevent worse or similar evils, "He told me it was 
his first impulse to do so, but on reflection he knew that he dared 
not, as his business \vould be ruined if he said one ^vord" (p. 1 74 ) • 

The Nun of Kenmare describes how she was persecuted in Dub- 
lin. Cardinal McCabe, with his chaplain, gave orders that she was 
to be put in the streets of Dublin. K sister, on her knees, begged 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 2I9 

that she who had been the salvation of thousands of the poor in 
Irel and be permitted to sleep one night in the convent. The request 
was granted only on one condition, that she should be put out on 
the streets of Dublin at daybreak next morning. She bethought 
herself of Tuam. The archbishop refused to allow her to go there. 
There she was, houseless, homeless and desolate, in the city where 
she was born. She had many Protestant relatives, but she dared not 
meet them. She had denied the faith. That denial created a bar- 
rier. To deny God is to lose the help of the God of love. Satan 
never loves. Cut loose from God and get into trouble, and the devil 
will leave you in the lurch. In Dublin, where the NunofKenmare 
was born, there was neither friendship nor help among Roman 
Catholics to whom she had turned. To go to Protestants was to 
confess the mistake she had made and break with the associations 
she had formed. Her past bound her. She had served Rome, and 
Rome left her stripped of power. She could have betrayed the 
cardinal and incited a riot. This would have imperilled her life. 
She determined to make one more effort, and sent for his chaplain. 
Though courteous, he told her he dared not offer the least opposi- 
tion or ask for an explanation when he had once spoken. 

The conduct of Archbishop Corrigan matches that of the cardi- 
nal in Dublin. Will Romanists endure it, or revolt .'' 

The Nun of Kenmare owes it to herself to do as did Archbishop 
Cranmer, who had betrayed Christ and had acknowledged the 
bishop of Rome to be supreme head on earth, Christ's vicar here. 
Rome had no use for him. Bloody Mary insisted that he should 
burn. It was determined that a sermon be prepared for the occa- 
sion and that his adhesion to Rome should be given the widest pub- 
licity. St. Mary's, Oxford, was the place. To it Cranmer was car- 
ried in his torn and dirty garb. In the church he found a low, mean 
stage, erected opposite the pulpit, being placed on which he turned 
his face and fervently prayed to God. The church was crowded 
with persons of both persuasions, expedling to hear the justification 
of the late apostasy ; the Roman Catholics rejoicing, and the Prot- 
estants deeply wounded in spirit at the deceit of the human heart. 
The preacher represented Cranmer as having been guilt}^ of the most 
atrocious crimes ; encouraged the deluded suflerer not to fear death, 
not to doubt the support of God in his torments, nor that masses 



220 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

would be said in all the churches of Oxford for the repose of his soul. 
Then, having ascribed his perversion to almighty power, Cranmer 
was given an opportunity to speak. He arose and asked the congre- 
gation to pray for him, because of a sin that lay heavy upon his soul. 
Then, in prayer and speech, he confessed his sin in turning to Rome, 
and told of his sorrow because "of setting abroad of a w^riting 
contrary to the truth, which now I here renounce and refuse, as 
things written with my hand contrary to the truth, for the sake of 
my life. And forasmuch as my hand hath offended, writing con- 
trary to my heart, it shall first be punished ; for, when I come to the 
fire, it shall first be burned. And as for the pope, I refuse him as 
Christ's enemy and anti-Christ, with all his false doctrine." Then 
he renounced the doctrines of Rome, and when he reached the fire 
burned his right hand to a cinder, and by that a6t and confession got 
back into the fellowship of Christ and the church. The Nun of 
Kenmare seeks to stay in Rome and to cling to her deceptions. 
Let her forsake them and live. Rome hates her. Christ and the 
good cannot receive her as she is. 

The Irish World says : "The rubbish about ecclesiastical inter- 
ference, which the ex-Nun of Kenmare now puts forth, is all hum- 
bug. If she had remained in her convent, in obedience to the direc- 
tions of her religious superiors, she would still be in Kerry and 
probably doing her appropriate good work. But she v^anted to 
'boss things' herself; she shook off the trammels of religious and 
ecclesiastical authority ; and hence she has now no standing as a re- 
ligious anywhere." This is utterly untrue. She is still in the 
church, trying, like McGlynn and Savonarola, to fight Rome in 
Rome. This is impracticable. To succeed, Christ must be con- 
fessed. The idolatry of Rome must be given up. She must repent 
of her sins, return and do her first works again. Christ is our medi- 
ator. He can help here and in heaven. The ruler is the same in 
heaven and on earth. These are plain words for the Nun of Kenmare. 
iThey are spoken in love and fidelity. She has betrayed Jesus Christ.' 
Her worship of Mary is idolatry, and offensive to God. Let her 
renounce it. The Nun of Kenmare knows what it is to battle with 
the despotism of Rome. We invite her to come into the liberty 
wherewith Christ maketh his people free. Here she will find work 
going on, larger and grander than she ever conceived. 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 221 

The Pratt's Institute that has come into notice was born of fealty 
to Jesus Christ. Tlie boy gave himself to the Lord. In his man- 
hood he made it his chief aim to glorify God and help man. As a 
result, he has been a benefactor to uncounted numbers ; and now, 
as the flower grown on the tree of his life and ripening into seed that 
will yet produce abundant harvests, comes this immense institution, 
combining the ideas of the Cooper institute, the Astor library, 
the Anchmuty trade schools and the academy of Dresden. Let the 
Nun of Kenmare read what has been achieved by this brave and 
fearless man, who lives to benefit mankind, and she will see how much 
larger are the plans of those who have welcomed the life of Christ 
to the soul than those encased in the errors of Rome. Rome darkens 
the windows of the soul. Christ lifts them and lets in the light. 
Let us quote from the New York Sun this marvellous description : 

"Like other great benefactors, Charles Pratt was originally a poor 
mechanic. He experienced the need of, education. He earned his 
by working hard and living on a dollar a day. He got to be a suc- 
cessful merchant, and was a member of the well-known firm of Rey- 
nolds, Devoe & Pratt, of New York. He sailed into fortune in the 
strongest tide of the oil business, and got to be worth millions. He 
employed thousands of workmen, and by contacft with them, as well 
as by his own experience, he came to know how great are the dis- 
advantages of the poor youth who starts with only such education as 
the public schools have heretofore given. While his great wealth 
increased, and he was able to provide munificently for his family, he 
never lost sight of the idea, which has, in fa6l, been the pet thought 
of his life, to erect a gi-eat institution to supply the want which he 
had himself experienced. 

"One of his ideas was that such an institution should not be a mere 
charity, but that it would do most good as an aid to those who were 
willing to help themselves. Therefore the cost of maintaining the 
institution is assured by the munificent gift of the pile of buildings 
known as 'The Astral Apartments' at Greenpoint, recently de- 
scribed in the press. When these apartments are filled the institute 
will have an income of about $25,000 a year. In this respect the 
plan is something like that of Mr. Cooper for the support of the 
Cooper institute by the rents of the stores on the main floor of the 
building. Besides the rents from the Astral apartments, the Pratt 



222 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

institute derives a revenue from small tuition fees, which are charged 
chiefly as an indication of the good faith of the pupils, and are, of 
course, far below the a(5lual cost of the tuition furnished. 

"The main building is an imposing six-story brick stru6lure facing 
on Ryerson street, with a floor space of about four acres. This 
building- stands between De Kalb and Willoughby avenues. Con- 
nedied with this are extensive buildings for the department of me- 
chanic arts, fronting on Grand avenue. On the Ryerson street side 
the kind-hearted benefa6lor has bought a plot 350x200, which ex- 
tends across the block to St. James' place. This plot is intended, 
as a play ground for the young ladies. Then there is another plot. 
for the boys on the Grand avenue side, 250x200 feet. 

''The main building is 100x50 feet, with an L on one side 37x50. 
This is six stories high. The buildings for the mechanic arts measure 
247x95 feet, and vary in height from one to three stories. They 
are all substantial structures, no money being wasted in mere archi- 
te6lural ornamentation. The buildings are supplied with arc and. 
incandescent lamps, so that the class rooms are brilliantly lighted by 
night. This is necessary, because much of the tuition and pradlice 
of the industrial arts will be at night, so as to give opportunity to 
pupils who are otherwise engaged by day. The design is to bring 
technical and industrial education within reach of those who most 
need it. The land for the buildings was purchased in 1884. '^^^^ 
contracts for construction were given out in the early months of 
1 885 . The building is not yet completed, but enough has been done 
to give the benefits of it to over 500 pupils, and the attendance is 
constantly increasing. In the main building is a free circulating 
library. It contains about 15,000 volumes of choice books. All 
the pupils of the institute and the tenants of the Astral apartments 
have access to this library. The selection has been made with 
especial reference to the needs of the institute. In the reading room. 
are about 150 of the leading American and foreign periodicals and- 
a library of valuable reference books. In mechanical, scientific, and . 
art works the main library is very strong. There is shelf capacity 
for from 25,000 to 30,000 volumes. The library measures 45x47,. 
and the reading room 80x45 feet. To this the public has had access 
since last January with the aid of intelligent catalogues. The books - 
chiefly sought for have been general literature, philosophy, religion, . 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 223 

sociology, philology, useful arts, fine arts, history, travels and biog- 
raphy. Over 2,500 members enrolled themselves in the first four 
months, and the circulation has run up to about 10,000 volumes. 

"The use of the library and reading room is limited to citizens of 
Brooklyn over 14 years of age. The terms are much the same as 
those of the apprentices' and other circulating libraries, and. require 
the signature of some responsible person as guarantee against loss 
of books. There is nothing of the kind in this quarter of Brooklyn, 
and additions will constantly be made to all the departments of the 
library, so that it shall contain the standard works of the best au- 
thors, both ancient and modern. 

"The second floor is reached by an elevator. Here is a big lecture 
hall, 80x45, splendidly lit and admirably ventilated. In the front 
are the trustees' room, general office, and main office. It is de- 
signed to give the public access to the le(5lures so far as it may be 
consistent with the convenience of those who attend the institute. 

"A great feature of the institute is the school of art and design. 
Drawing is recognized as the basis of all constru(5live industries, as 
well as of pictorial art and decoration. Its importance to the arti- 
san and designer is incalculable, and every branch of it is provided 
for in the Pratt institute. The chief divisions are : Drawing, as 
applied to industrial construction and the making of objects ; draw- 
ing, as applied to the representation of the appearance of objects, 
both natural and artificial ; drawing, as applied to ornamentation. 
The special divisions to secure these results comprise thorough and 
systematic training in free-hand, mechanical, and architectural 
drawing, color, clay modelling, design, and wood caiwing. Each 
course of study is divided into three grades, and ten acceptable 
studies or drawings are required in each. 

"In the general course of free-hand drawing the pupil is trained in 
blocking in from casts the appearance of cylindrical and rectangular 
objects, groups of objects, studies in light and shade from casts and 
still life, harmony of color, historic ornament, and principles of 
ornament and applied design. The next grade includes work in 
design, blocking in, and shading the head and figure from casts, 
drawings of drapery and studies in color from still life. The next 
grade embraces advanced work from antique painting and studies 
from life. Students are required to have a thorough knowledge of 



224 'THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

free-hand drawing before admission to advanced classes, and will not 
be permitted to omit any part of a course of study unless they can 
pass satisfactory examinations. Pupils msLy enter special courses in 
design or architedlural and mechanical drawing, according to indi- 
vidual ability or fitness. All students must attend le(5lures on per- 
spedlive, historic ornament, harmony of color, etc., according to 
course of study, and are required to take full notes. All appli- 
cants must give evidence of a certain amount of ability in the line 
of work they wish to pursue in order to gain admission to the school, 
and must pass an examination upon one grade before entering a 
higher grade. 

"Thus far the progress of the art department has been most grati- 
fying. The first class was organized about a year ago. The even- 
ing classes were begun last January, and there are now about 400 
enrolled. The first term extends from Sept. 18 to Dec. 21, the 
second term from Jan. 2 to March 27, and the third term from 
April 2 to June 21. For the evening classes the first term is from 
061. I to Dec. 21, and the second term from Jan. 2 to March 21. 

"The terms for tuition are $8 a term for the first division classes 
and $6 a term for the second division classes. The terms for the 
evening classes are $5 for a term of three months. 

"In the department of domestic science there are courses in cook- 
ing, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, and embroidery. Here it is 
proposed to make women learn those branches of science and art 
that pertain to good housekeeping and the making of homes. They 
are taught not only in an ideal but in a pra6tical way. They learn, 
in the words of the charter of the institute, 'those useful and orna- 
mental arts that have reference to matters of household economy 
and home management, the preparation of clothing, useful and or- 
namental, of economic and wholesome desire to support themselves 
by those branches of industry.' 

"And here are the tools with which to do all this. There are big 
kitchens and things to cook, and there is a lunch room where the 
things cooked are sold at moderate prices to the pupils of the insti- 
tute or others. The cooking school was opened last January with 
a class of twenty, and other classes have been constantly added, with 
marked success. A course consists of twelve lessons. One lesson 
of two hours' duration is given every week. The evening classes 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 225 

are open to self-supporting women, but the day classes are open to 
all, and the result has been that the institute has already been almost 
tested to its fullest capacity. 

"There are three courses of twelve lessons each in cooking, and they 
advance regularly from the simplest to the most elaborate dishes. 
Every pupil is required to give evidence of her thorough acquaint- 
ance with elementary cooking before advancing to the higher courses. 
It is a thoroughly practical work. Principles are taught orally, but 
each pupil applies them pra6lically by working out with her own 
hands the recipes given to her. Lessons are given in the building 
and care of the fire. The time-honored plan of female cooking by 
which proportions are guessed at with skill is disapproved. The 
pupils are taught how to measure liquids and solids, to boil eggs by 
a6lual time and not by conjecture, to boil all sorts of vegetables, to 
broil and roast meats, to make soups, pastry, and bread. 

"Along with the peculiar cooking there are ledlures upon the 
chemical and nutritive properties of materials used and the changes 
produced by cooking. The finished pupil can not only cook after 
thirty-six lessons, but she should have a good understanding of the 
properties of various food materials ; know^ what is wholesome as 
well as appetizing ; and be able to estimate the value of food as to its 
nutritive properties, and to do the work of cooking intelligently and 
economically. 

"The charge for tuition in the day class for cooking is $3.50 for 
the first and second courses, and $5 for the third course. For the 
evening classes the charges are $i .50 for the first and second courses, 
and $2 for the third course. 

"The sewing department class opened last February with twenty- 
four pupils, and since that time the numbers have constantly in- 
creased. A large room on the south side of the third floor is de- 
voted to this class. All kinds of sewing are taught, from simple 
overhanding to buttonholes, hemstitching, featherstitching, and in- 
struction in machine sewing. The higher branches of cutting and 
making plain garments from patterns are taught after pupils have 
learned hand sewing. Then the high art of draughting garments 
from measure is taught. In this department the pupils must furnish 
their own materials. The tuition fees for a course of sewing — 
twenty-four lessons — are $4 for day classes and $2 for evening 



2 26 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

classes. For dressmaking, twelve lessons are required. First, the 
pupil must get a knowledge of hand and machine sewing, as well as 
experience in making simple garments from patterns. Aftei*ward 
the pupil learns to cut and make dresses from patterns, and, finally, 
to draught the patterns from measure. The charges for tuition are, 
for elementary day classes, $5 ; evening classes, $3. For advanced 
day classes the fees are $10 ; evening classes, $7. Pupils furnish 
their own materials. 

"Classes in millinery have been instrudled here since last April. 
The course comprises twelve lessons, including instruction in cov- 
ering, facing, and trimming hats and bonnets. The cost of the tv^^elve 
lessons is $4 for day classes and $3 for evening classes. 

"The institute also makes provision for classes in art embroidery. 
The course consists of twelve lessons. A knowledge of hand sew- 
ing is required for entrance, and pupils are advised to complete an 
elementaiy course in drawing and color as indispensable to good 
work in embroidery. The fees are $4 for the day class and $2 for 
the evening class. 

"In hygiene and home nursing there is a course of twelve lessons. 
The number of pupils is limited to fifteen in each class. There are 
lectures and practical demonstrations on the outlines of anatomy, 
physiology, and hygiene ; immediate aid in emergencies ; treatment 
of wounds, broken bones, sunstroke and poisoning; home nursing, 
care of the sick room, administration of food and medicine to the sick. 
This course is intended to qualify pupils to a6t promptly when 
necessary before the arrival of a physician, and to aid the physician 
w'hen he does come. The tuition costs $4 for the day class and $2 
for the evening class. 

"There is a course of twenty lessons in vocal music, for the study 
of sight reading, voice and ear training, part singing, and musical 
theory. Applicants must not be less than 16 years old. The tui- 
tion fee is $3. 

"For the department of mechanic arts there is a series of buildings 
in the rear of the main institute, fronting on Grand avenue. It is 
intended for three distinct classes of pupils : First, members of the 
regular three years' course who, in connexion with their literary 
work, take instruction in wood and iron work, joinery, pattern mak- 
ing, wood turning, moulding, casting, forging, etc. ; second, pupils 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 227 

from other schools who wish to supplement their studies with some 
kind of manual work ; third, those who are employed during the day 
and wish to join evening classes in order to learn some mechanical 
trade, or to perfect themselves in the trade in which they are already 
engaged. 

''In the basement are two loo-horse power boilers, which supply 
steam to the entire group of buildings, and run the engines, ele- 
vators, electric light, fire pumps, and machinery. The big Harris- 
Corliss engine and the huge dynamo are excellent subjects for obje6l 
lessons. 

"On the south side of the first floor is the forge room. There are 
accommodations for thirty-six pupils, with forges and anvils. In- 
struction is given in drawing, bending, upsetting, punching, weld- 
ing, and making of steel tools. The different processes of produc- 
ing iron and steel, and the properties of the commercial produ(5l, are 
illustrated by ledlures. The tuition costs $io for three months. 

"Adjoining this room is the foundry, 66x29 ^^^^- Here instruction 
is given in green sand moulding, dry sand moulding, and loam 
moulding, and in core making. Swept-up work will be illustrated, 
and particular attention will be given to the production of art cast- 
ings in iron and bronze. The art of manipulating and care of 
cupola will be taught, with the principles of iron melting. The 
tuition costs $10 per term. 

"The metal working department at the north end of the first floor 
has a room 97x37 feet. There is bench room for forty-eight vises, 
engine and drilling lathes for iron work, and other machinery. The 
course of instrudtion comprises the use of the drill, planer, milling 
machines ; the theory of cutting tools ; the use of the chipping chisel, 
tile, scraper, hand dies, taps and reemer ; engine, lathe, screw cut- 
ting, boring, and machine fitting. The tuition costs $10 for a term 
of three months. 

"The main room of the wood working department at the north end 
of the second floor is 92x37 feet. Here are 150 feet of wall benches 
and 36 single benches supplied with the most approved tools. There 
are wood turning lathes, a large pattern maker's lathe, buzz planer, 
surfacer, and other machinery. Thirty-six boys began to work here 
last March, and the institute has already on exhibition some work in 
this department that would be a credit to older hands. The course 



228 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

in carpentry will cover three months. Instru6lion is given in the 
care and use of carpenter's tools, laying out of work, proportion of 
joints, method of making dovetails applied to cabinet making, join- 
ery, and house building. The second term takes up the speed lathe, 
plain and ornamental turning, and the making of patterns and core 
boxes, and the use of the hand saw and jig saw. The charge for 
tuition here is $7oO for a term of three months. 

"In this department there is a three years' course for boys, which 
includes freehand and mechanical drawing and shop practice, at the 
same time that the pupil is acquiring a thorough English education. 
The applicants for this course are required to pass an examination 
in arithmetic, geography, United States history, grammar, and com- 
position. A similar course to this for girls will also be taught. 

"For the department of the building trades there is a building 
103x95 feet and about 30 feet high. Work was begun here with 
pupils in bricklaying, modelling, stone carving and plumbing last 
February, and already some wonderful results have been accom- 
plished. In stone cai'ving the pupils are required to sketch designs 
and model them in clay before cutting them in stone. Then they 
are drilled in different styles of ornament and architecture. The 
pupils are encouraged to make original and artistic designs, for the 
work of this department borders closely on that of the sculptor. 
The tuition costs but $7.50 for three months. 

"In the plumbing sedlion there are completely equipped benches 
for fifty-four pupils. They are taught to make lead seams, wiped 
joints, sand bends, working sheet lead, eredlion of sewer pipes, the 
sanitary aspects of plumbing, the scientific principles of drain- 
age, sewerage, and ventilation, and the ability to apply those prin- 
ciples. There is already on exhibition some nice work done in this 
department, and whoever learns plumbing here will learn it thor- 
oughly. The tuition costs $10 for a term of three months. Ap- 
plicants for admission must be at least 17 years old. 

"The course in plastering comprises instruction in scratch coating, 
iDrown coating, hard finishing, running arches, cornices, etc. The 
•charge is $7.50 for a term of three months. There is a course of six 
months in modelling, casting, and carving, in which the tuition 
■costs $5 for a term of three months. 

"A class in shorthand was begun last February with thirty- five 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 229 

pupils, and it has been continued since. Experience has shown 
that it is necessary to require pupils in this branch to pass an ex- 
amination in spelling and English grammar. 

"The Technical museum of the institute is a novel and interesting 
feature. The general idea is to exhibit excellent specimens of hand- 
icraft in juxtaposition with the materials from which they were 
made, and to show the processes through which each article must 
necessarily pass on its way from the crude material to the finished 
produdl. There are specimens of beauty, and, besides that, they 
are of utility in training the eye to distinguish the principles of 
form, design, color, and ornamentation. 

"Mr. Pratt began to make this collection last year. It is most 
complete in the department of ceramics. Side by side with speci- 
mens of the raw materials there are samples of earthenware, 
faience, and porcelain from the great manufactories of the world, 
ancient and modern. The collection of glass is marvellous, and 
discloses all known methods of ornamentation. It is shown how 
glass may be blown, cut, engraved, etched, and enamelled in every 
conceivable form of grace and beauty. There are specimens of 
Roman, Florentine, and Venetian mosaic w^ork, enamel work of 
various countries, a set of German medals showing different S'^ages 
of the process of manufad;ure, specimens of the metals and their 
alloys, and examples of beautiful and artistic work done in them, 
choice bronzes, samples of ores and minerals, fac-similes of the 
famous gems of the world, and a series of 600 specimens of Euro- 
pean rocks, side by side with the same number of American rocks. 

"As a whole, the Pratt institute is the most complete in this 
country for the combined advantages of mental and physical educa- 
tion. Many attempts have been made on a smaller scale, or in par- 
tial directions, but none heretofore has attempted so extensive 
manual and industrial education, or so broad a field of training. 
The institution is fairly under way. It has room to grow to be not 
only a credit to Brooklyn, but also one of the distin(?i:ive educa- 
tional institutions of the United States, and is likely to prove a model 
for others to be erecSled in the near future for the benefit of coming 
generations. To insure the faithful carrying out of his ideas, Mr. 
Pratt has placed his son, F. B. Pratt, in charge of the institute as 



230 THE NUN OF KENMARE. 

secretary, and he is in daily attendance there to see that the great 
educational machine moves smoothly." 

Evaiigelical Christendojyi is 7iot poor. 

"The King's Daughters" is a recent organization, founded by 
Mrs. Margaret Bottome and a circle of nine New York ladies, 
and which aims to embody the highest precepts, put in practice 
principles at once the grandest and simplest, and realize ideals of all 
that is most earnest, tender, and strong in womanhood. France 
holds out her eager hands, claiming to have originated the first Sis- 
terhood of the Cross, an ancient society \vhose badge was the Mal- 
tese cross, and the brave-hearted Sisters of the Red Cross in Ger- 
many long to fasten the silver cross of peace beneath the crimson 
sign of carnage. The King's vSons are banded together under the 
same motto, the promotion of "Whatsoever things are true and 
whatsoever things are pure," wear the same badge and royal color, 
and are governed by the same central council, as the King's Daugh- 
ters. 

A lady in a crowded stage made room, at infinite discomfort to 
herself, for a young girl in shabby clothes and with a big box which 
partially rested in the lady's lap. The graceful courtesy v^as ren- 
dered with a smile like sunshine, and the silver symbol flashed on 
the lady's breast as she helped to steady the troublesome package. 

Let the Nun of Kenmare join "The King's Daughters," a sister- 
hood born of love, ruled by Jesus Christ and consecrated to serving 
the world without fee or reward. In Rome is night. In Christ is 
life ; confess him and serve him and all shall be well, and she, with 
us, can say, with 50,000 more : 

Sons and daughters of the King, 
Joyful let us rise and sing 
Song and psalm with loud acclaim, 
While we worship "in his name." 
In a covenant of grace, 
While he lifts his smiling face. 
With a love that knows no shame 
Let us gather " in his name." 

Heart and hand for word and deed, 
Wheresoever human need. 
Through whatever praise or blame 
Bear your message, "in his name." 



THE NUN OF KENMARE. 2^1 

Children of the royal line, 
Yours to speak the word divine ; 
Yours to lift the beacon flame 
To the nations, "in his name." 

Rise encircled in his might, 
Swift of foot, and strong for right ; 
He for evermore the same 
Will be with you, " in his name." 
Peace he gives you, peace he leaves ; 
Scatter, then, the golden sheaves, 
Freely as to you he came, 
Freely scatter, "in his name." 

OUR MOTTOES. 

"Look up and not down !" Do you mind how the tree-top 

Rejoices in sunshine denied to its root? 
And hear how the lark, gazing skyward, is flooding 

All earth with his song, while the ground-bird is mute.? 

"Look forward, not back !" 'Tis the chant of creation, 
The chime of the seasons as onward they roll ; 

'Tis the pulse of the world, 'tis the hope of the ages, 
'Tis the voice of the Lord in the depths of the soul. 

"Look out and not in !" See the sap rushing outward 

In leaf, bud, and blossom. All winter it lay 
Imprisoned, while earth wore a white desolation ; 

Now nature is glad with the beauty of May. 

" Lend a hand !" like the sun that turns night into morning, 
The moon that guides storm-driven sailors to land. 

Ah ! life were worth living, with this for its w^atchword : 
" Look up, out and forward, and each lend a hand !" 




MARTIN LUTHER. 



MARTIN LUTHER; HIS WORK IN GERMANY 
A NECESSITY IN AMERICA. 



''Give me the little book." Rev. lo: 9. 

It is said that in India little ants eat through the great pillars and 
pulverize the foundations, and render unsafe the mightiest temples. 
What the little vermin do to the temples of India, Romanists are 
attempting to do for the temple of liberty in America. Their scheme 
is perfect : Keep the children out of the public schools, or make 
them atheistic, and America will be papalized. In the face of this 
attempt, it w ill do the people good to re-read the life of Martin 
Luther, and gain a conception of the vv^ork he attempted and the 
work he achieved. Attempts have been made to belittle him ; as well 
try to dwarf Mt. Blanc. The sun is too high up ; the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth, through literature, through history, through 
Sabbath schools, through free pulpits, through an unmuzzled press. 
It cannot be done. Roman Catholics are accessible to the truth. Give 
truth its opportunity. That made Germany free. That will melt the 
shackles Rome is forging for the free limbs of American youth. 
Remember that when Luther began Germany was in the clutch 
of Rome. It looks as if it might have stayed there, had not this boy 
grown to manhood and, under the dire6lion of Providence, wrought 
a work w^hich is even now^ the astonishment and wonder of the world. 
Four hundred years after his birth, the Germany he redeemed paused 
to sing his praises. The mightiest, the truest, the sturdiest monarch 
that ever sat a throne in Europe or anywhere else. Emperor Wil- 
liam, was great enough to say so. It proves that things are grow- 
ing, morally and spiritually. The princes, the statesmen and the 
people honored Luther with a monument at Wittenberg, where he 
was buried. 

It was a wonderful hour when this child was born. He came 
into the w^orld when everything had been made ready for the great 
deeds of great-hearted men. When he was nine years of age, Co- 

233 



234 MARTIN LUTHER. 

lumbus set sail for the new world, not knowing what was to befall 
him ; the printing press had been invented ; Dante had written ; 
Michael Angelo had planned St. Peter's at Rome ; Raphael had 
painted those wonderful pidlures that are even now the glory of art. 
Luther was built on a large scale. There was a robustness about 
him which made his bravery, his docility, his teachableness, his v^it, 
his love of music, of the young, of good women and true and brave 
men, marked features in his life. He compelled priests, bish- 
ops, princes, emperors and even popes to confront a manly Chris- 
tianity. Come, then, and look into the little tov^n of Eisleben 
where he was born, and bless God for the gift of this child w^hose 
influence permeates the nations and makes a free church in a free 
state, with a free press and a free pulpit, possible. There is not 
much to see, beyond a noble mother and a brave father working in 
the mine. With the outline of Luther's life all are more or less 
familiar. All know that he was born to an inheritance of poverty 
and struggle, that Madam Cotta heard him playing the flute and 
singing in the streets, when she brought the hungry child in, fed 
him, got in love with him, and induced her husband to join her in lift- 
ing him out of the grasp of poverty into the enjoyment of a sunnier 
life and a more prosperous way. She found a boy that she was 
not compelled to drive to study. He loved knowledge. It was 
born in him, as much as was the gift of song. 

I. The work of God in him is the Jirst distinguishing fa6l. 

He vs^as born again. Romanism did not satisfy him. Confession, 
penance, fasting and self-humiliation did not bring peace to his soul. 
He found it after a long struggle. He had read the Bible and tried 
to hold on to Romanism. He saw Romanism full of corruption 
and deception. Summoned to Rome, persecuted for righteousness' 
sake and yet in the darkness, he climbed Pilate's stairs in the Lateran. 
As he was praying Romish prayers, above the din he heard God's 
voice, sounding out in his soul : " The just shall live by faith.^' 
He was startled. He was surprised. His eyes were opened. He 
saw his abasement and folly, his utter rejedlion of God and his 
attempt to v^ork out salvation for himself. The words had come 
twice before ; God never tires in striving to win us. The deed was 
done. It w^as a creative word for the reformer and the Reformation. 
It was by means of that word that God then said : "Let there be 



MARTIN LUTHER. 235 

light, and there was light." The work was of God. The righteous- 
ness which can alone stand in the sight of God became his by im- 
putation. It was wrought through the Holy Spirit in the heart of a 
Romanist. Cannot that work be wrought again and again, in the 
hearts of Romanists? Is anything too hard for God? May not 
millions be brought, in answer to prayer, from darkness into light? 

2, God Jielfed him. 

After Luther's blows had told, the partisans of Rome, in their 
sudden alarm, exclaimed aloud that a vast and formidable con- 
spiracy was everywhere forming against the church. It was not 
so. The friends of the gospel saw God's uncovered hand, and they 
rejoiced. As in spring-time the breath of life is felt from the sea- 
shore to the mountain top, so now in the conversion of Hans 
Luther's son there came a breath from heaven. It warmed the 
hearts of men. 

Let us now get a few dates. He was born on St. Martin's eve, 
in Eisleben, Nov. lo, 1483, and was named Martin because of it. 
He died in the same place Feb. 18, 1546, aged 63. He said: ''I 
am a peasant's son. My father, my grandfather, and my forefathers 
were all peasants. My father was a poor miner ; my mother car- 
ried her wood on her shoulders ; and after this sort they supported 
us, their children." Subsequently, they went to Mansfield, and ac- 
quired property. They always loved their boy, and their boy to 
the last honored his parents. The boy was brought up under severe 
discipline. At school he was flogged very frequently, on one 
forenoon fifteen times. "Such a school is," said he, "a purgatory." 
In 1 50 1 he entered the universit}^ at Erfurt, studied four years and 
graduated with high honors. His moral conduct was blameless. 
An inclination to study law was thwarted by sickness, a stroke of 
lightning, and the death of a companion. He went to the con- 
vent of Erfurt instead, and became an Augustinian monk. "God 
ordered," says Luther, "that I should become a monk, that I might 
take up my pen against the pope." From 151 7 to 1530 was one long 
battle, and German Protestantism was born. In 1507 Luther took 
orders. In 1508, at the instance of Staupitz, he became professor 
in Wittenberg. In 151 2 he took the-do6lorate and became a D. D. 
and a teacher of the Scriptures. 

His fight with indulgences brought him into public notice. The 



236 MARTIN LUTHER. 

do6trine had been long in existence. As early as the days of Ter- 
tullian, in the third century, penance was imposed by the church 
as a punishment which should be endured to gain divine pardon. 
From that time, deeds of penance multiplied in number and in- 
creased in severity. Men went barefoot, whipped and starved 
themselves. In due time, the priests invented indulgences, and of- 
fered to lift the burdens imposed upon the faithful for money. 
Hence arose the system of exchange so convenient for the sinner and 
so profitable for the church. The next step was to follow the rich 
sinner into the next world, and declare that sins which had not been 
atoned for on earth must be expiated in purgatory. Then came the 
claim that indulgences could deliver souls from the intermediate 
state. This traffic increased until 1300, when Pope Boniface pub- 
lished a bull announcing that every 100 years all who presented 
themselves at Rome should receive plenary indulgence ; Clement 
VI made it 50 years, Paul II reduced it to 25. Pius IX made 1875 
a jubilee year, and permitted the faithful the benefit of indulgence 
in every part of the world, and Leo XIII did the same for 1888. 
The doctrine of indulgences is that the church has the power of im- 
posing temporal punishments, and what it can bind it can loose. 
The penitent is in the hands, not of God, but of a priest. 

It was in 15 17 that Luther took ground against indulgences. In 
1 5 10 the treasury of Rome was bankrupt. Pope Leo X resorted to 
indulgences to fill his treasury. This traffic was intrusted to a monk 
named John Tetzel. He would enter a village, eredl a red cross, 
summon the people and offer to forgive the sins they might desire 
hereafter to commit. "There is no sin so great that the indulgences 
cannot remit it, and even if any one, which is doubtless impossible, 
should offer violence to the Blessed Virgin, let him pay and it shall 
be forgiven him. They not only save the living but the dead." 
"Ye priests, nobles, tradesmen, wives, husbands, maidens and young 
men, hearken to your departed pare nts and friends, who cry to you 
from the bottomless abyss : ' We are enduring horrible torments: 
a small ahns would deliver us', you can give it^ but will not,' 

"As soon as the money doth clink in the chest 
The soul flies away -to the land of the blest." 

Then would follow an exhortation : "Our Lord God no longer 
deals with us as God ; he has given all power to the pope." The 



MARTIN LUTHER. 237 

following is a copy of one of the letters of indulgence given by 
Tetzel : "May our Lord Jesus Christ have pity on thee, and ab- 
solve thee by the merits of his most holy passion. And I, in virtue 
of the apostolic power that has been confided to me, absolve thee 
from all ecclesiastical censures, judgments and penalties which thou 
mayest have incurred ; moreover, from all excesses, sins and crimes 
'that thou mayest have committed, no inatter how enormous they 
mav be and from whatever cause ; were they even reserved from 
our most holy father, the pope, and for the apostles. See, I blot 
out all stains of inability and all marks of infamy that thou mayest 
have drawn upon thyself on this occasion. I remit the penalties 
that thou shouldst have endured in purgatory, I restore thee anew 
to participation in the sacraments of the church. I incorporate thee 
afresh in the communion of saints and re-establish thee in the purity 
and innocence which thou hadst at thy baptism, so that in the hour 
of death the gates by v^hich sinners enter the place of torments and 
punishments shall be closed against thee, and, on the contrary, the 
gate leading to the paradise of joy shall be open. And, if thou 
shouldst not die in long years, this grace shall remain unalterable 
until the last hour shall arrive. In the name of the Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost. Amen. Friar John Tetzel, commissary, has signed 
this with his own hand." 

Luther's first knowledge of this traffic was brought to him by 
some of his own parishioners, who, living in Wittenberg, had gone 
to a neighboring town to purchase some of this merchandise. They 
came to him confessing great sins and even crimes. He rebuked 
them ; they defied him and showed their indulgences. Luther was 
shocked and would not absolve them. They appealed to Tetzel and 
he threatened to excommunicate Luther. Then began the battle. 
Bishop and pope were asked to interfere. Both refused. Then 
Luther wrote out his ninety- five theses and nailed them to the door 
of the church in Wittenberg. In them he struck Romanism terri- 
ble blows. He professed faith in Christ as the one who can forgive 
sins. The pope can forgive no debt, but can only declare and con- 
firm the forgiveness which God himself has given. Every Christian 
who truly repents of his sins enjoys an entire remission both of the 
penalty and the guilt, without any need of indulgences. Luther op- 
posed the ringing of bells to call attention to indulgences, and the 



23S MARTIN LUTHER. 

ignoring of the gospel. We should exhort Christians to diligence 
in following Christ. 

It is impossible to pi6lure the efFe6l produced by this bold a(5l. 
Leo X fulminated a bull against Luther. The reformer burned it 
in sight of all. The current bore him on. Luther's great mistake 
was in not adhering to tlie plain teachings of the word of God. 
This would have saved him from baptismal regeneration and Ger- 
many from an unconverted church inernbership and infidelity, and 
would have caused him to stand for believei's' baptism. He taught 
immersion, saying : "Baptism is a Greek word and may be trans- 
lated immersion." And, although it is almost wholly abolished, 
yet the etymology of the word demands immersion. 

J». The character of the popes^ whose injluence Luther jnet. 

Sixtus IV came to power in 1471 • As cardinal he was untrue to 
his sisters and outraged young children. By a bull he placed his 
bastard children among Roman princes. He had the Medici in 
Florence assassinated. His cruelty was indescribable. Eleven 
times in one year the prisons of the Inquisition were filled and the 
vi6lims slaughtered. The smell of w^asting flesh and the sight of 
palpitating limbs delighted him. 

Innocent VIII came to the throne in 1484, the year after Luther 
was born. He had sixteen bastard children when he reached the 
pontificate. He died in 1492. 

Then came Alexander VI. As a man, a bishop, a cardinal and 
a pope there is no need of description. As the synonym of infamy 
he is known. He debauched a mother and her two daughters ; 
after the mother died he placed one of the daughters in a convent 
and made the other his mistress. By her he had five children, and 
one of these, the beautiful Lucretia, he in turn debauched. He died 
in 1503 with poison. The sight of his dead body — black, deformed, 
prodigiously swollen, deserted by priest and cardinal, buried by 
workmen, crowded into a coffin and put out of sight — ^baffles de- 
scription. 

Pius III lived a true life and was set aside in twenty-six days. Ju- 
lius II died in a fit of passion. Then came Leo X (John de Med- 
ici) . He was eaten up by ulcers and was carried on a litter into 
Rome. The smell of the discharge of the ulcers was so terrible that 
it came near breaking up the college ; but, upon physicians saying 



MARTIN J.UTHER. 239 

that he could live a month, the cardinals took his bribes and 
made him pope. Then he got well. He was more refined than 
Alexander, if not more pure. He was devoted to art and helped on the 
work of building St. Peter's, and invented the farming out of indul- 
gences, which brought Luther to the front. After the death of his 
brother and nephew, Leo X modified the zeal which distinguished 
him at the outset. He gave himself up to the pleasure of the chase» 
He had four masters of the art occupied in inventing unheard-of dish- 
es, for which the faithful paid seven millions a year for supplying^ 
the table of the pope. He died Dec. i, 1521, aged 44 years, hav- 
ing been pope for nearly nine years. 

Then came Adrian VI, who tried to reform the church, and at 
one time threatened to go to Germany, study the do6lrines of Lu- 
ther, and, should he lose the tiara, become a convert to the new be- 
lief and labor with the reformer in overthrowing the theocratic ed- 
ifice and leading the church back to the worship of the true reli- 
gion of Christ. This determination no sooner was known than a 
concert of curses rose against him, and attempt after attempt was 
made to assassinate him. 

In 1523, Clement VII became pope, and undid all that Adrian 
tried to accomplish. It v^as during his reign the Anabaptists were 
persecuted, and in less than a year there were more than 150,000 
martyrs. They were content to preach, suffer and die. Henry 
VIII broke from Rome at the same time. 

After Clement, in 1534, came Paul III, who pushed nepotism 
farther even than Alexander VI. He was the foe of education, of 
liberty, of Christianity. But the Reformation spread and was 
established. 

To recount Rome's cruelties is impossible. Her history is echoed 
in the carnage of the battle field, in the sighs of suffering innocence. 
Her pathway is marked by the blood of more than 50,000,000 of 
earth's noblest and best. Over the grave of Waldenses and Albi- 
genses. Baptists and lovers of the word of God, the crosier cast its 
shadow, when Luther stood forth to preach Christ and him crucified. 
To read the Bible was to be guilty of sin. To keep a Bible was 
to be guilty of death. 

Lucretia Borgia, the own daughter of Alexander VI, the pope, 
presided over the affairs of the church and the councils of the car'- 



340 MARTIN LUTHER. 

dinals in the costume of a bacchante, with naked bosom and her 
body scarcely covered by a m usHn robe. In this condition, she de- 
liberated on questions of licentiousness, and helped rule and govern, 
in accordance v^ith w^ritten laws, 50,000 licensed prostitutes, and 
herself received caresses so immodest that Burchard exclaims, 
''Horror! ignominy! disgrace!" This at the Vatican. Imagine 
the condition of affairs where priests and bishops give themselves up 
to every form of indulgence. In the midst of the Augean stable 
Luther arose. 

4. Luther in harness deserves to be studied. 
i He told the truth. He translated the Bible. He proclaimed it. 
He w^as not afraid. Luther emancipated the people from supersti- 
tion. He called things by their names. He showed that it was 
possible to defy the pope and live. He dared him to do his worst 
and thrived in doing it. He was utterly reckless in his assaults. 
His pamphlets on The Abuse of Masses, Against the Idol of Halle, 
and Monastic Vows, contain language so rough, so impolitic, so 
harsh, that you see at once that he had burned the bridges behind 
him and had not thought of making a compromise. He cleared the 
air of superstitious dread. He showed that it was possible to tel. 
the truth and live. He was utterly fearless, and seems to have been 
reared to do work which had never before been attempted. Think 
of him when urged not to go to Worms : "If Jesus Christ do but 
aid me, I will never fly from the field nor desert the word of my 
God ; should the pope kindle a fire that will blaze from Wittenberg 
to Worms, I will appear in the name of my God." When 
told that Duke George would be sure to arrest him, he re- 
plied: "If it should rain Duke Georges for nine days together, I 
will go." He had taken the book out of the angel's hands, and felt 
that he must prophesy before many peoples and nations and tongues 
and kings. 

Luther emancipated conscience. It had been captured, as is the 
conscience of Romanists at this hour. The church is its custo- 
dian, the priest is its jailer. Luther threw open the prison doors, 
and paved the way not only for the Reformation but for religious 
liberty and for our republic. Romanists today are permitted to 
build their sanctuaries and chant their Ave Marias because of the 
work v/rought by Luther. 



MARTIN LUTHER. 24I 

The emancipation of conscience gave liberty to thought and struck 
off the shackles which had held the laity captive. For centuries 
the people had been taught to believe that no layman could approach 
God, except through the mediation of a priest, and therefore that the 
distinction betv/een priest and layman was a distindlion on which 
the w^hole hierarchical system of Rome rests. But Luther, re- 
membering how he himself, in his own bitterness of soul, had come 
dire6lly to God, without any intervention save that of the one medi- 
ator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and had found 
peace in believing, struck a Titan blow at the distinction between 
priest and layman, declaring that the veil of the temple was still 
rent in twain, and that all believers, whether ministers or laymen, 
men or women, adults or children, were alike priests before God, hav- 
ing equal right of entrance into heaven's holy of holies. This threw 
back the prison bars from the worshipers, and permitted men and 
women, without liturgical forms, to sing and pray and preach as 
the Spirit moved upon them. 

It was Luther's mission to emancipate the latent, imprisoned con- 
victions and yearnings of awaking Christendom. He was both the 
child and the sire of his epoch. Truly has it been said that no man 
ever illustrated more finely the poet's saying : 

"Great offices will have 
Great talents, and God gives to every man 
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, 
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall 
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill." 

Luther was greater than Germany. Truth made him a prime 
faClor in the development of the race ; for he it was who, by the 
grace of God, his own genius and his transcendent piety, discovered 
and clarified colossal truths lost in haze or buried in oblivion ; 
emancipating the intelleCland conscience of the church, re-asserting 
the absolute supremacy of the Bible in matters of faith, restoring 
the sole headship of Jesus Christ, manumitting the laity, guiding 
with a strong and skillful hand the swollen, turbulent river of new 
conceptions bursting forth from the glacier caverns of the long me- 
diseval winter, in the spring freshet of the Reformation ; in brief, 
steering the well-nigh shipwrecked church of God back to her apos- 
tolic moorings. That is the Luther of history : let us thank God 
for the gift. 



242 MARTIN LUTHER. 

J. The work to be undertaken by ourselves. 

The Romanism he fought is not dead. It is here in our land. 
Its shadow curses the world. It is no longer the fetter to progress 
that it was when Luther arose. Now, channels have been 
opened for benevolence, for education and enlightenment on every 
side. The Roman Catholic churches are not even counted when 
we reckon up the agencies to be employed for Christianizing and 
elevating the people of the land. We expedl the priests to fight 
liberty, to oppose education and stand across the path of progress. 
Capel says they are a unit in opposing our system of free schools. 
Capel will find himself mistaken. He says that when Rome pulls the 
trigger, eight millions of Romanists will withdraw their children 
from the public schools and refuse to be taxed for their support. 
So said Jefferson Davis about slavery. It looked then as if it might 
be true. The trigger w^as pulled. The gun was fired at the flag 
of Sumter. The echo of that gun leaped over the land. What 
was the result } The air grev^^ red with flags, and they flamed on 
Catholic steeples as elsewhere, for none were brave or bold enough 
to stem the current of patriotism sweeping over the land. It will 
be so again. This is Immanuel's land. To be forewarned is to be 
forearmed. We know what popery is. Today the people feel that 
there is no danger. Let Rome lift a hand and reveal the fact that 
there is danger, and you will see that the land of the Book is the 
land of the free. 

Luther saw things worse than we see them. He told the truth in 
plain words and showed ' 'Why Priests Should Wed," saying : "To 
what condition is the clergy fallen, and how many priests do we find 
burdened with women and children and their bitter remorse while 
no one comes to their aid. It may suit the pope and the bishops to 
let things go on as they list, I will deliver my conscience. The 
devil says, 'Forbid the clergy to marry ;' Paul says, 'Let the bishop 
be the husband of one wife,' and so I, Martin Luther, will mar- 
ry." When forty-one years of age, in 1525, he took Catherine Von 
Bora, w^ho had fled from the Cistercian nunnery of Nimptsch. It 
was in perfe6t conformity with his masculine and daring mind, that, 
having satisfied himself of the nullity of the monastic vows, he should 
take the boldest method of showing to the world how utterly he re- 
je(5led them. "He married to please himself, tease the pope and vex 



MARTIN LUTHER. 243 

the devil." He delighted to praise the wife he honored as <'good, 
pious and obedient, and prized above the kingdom of France or the 
state of Venice." 

6. The slanderers of Luther. 

It is meet that when the emperor and the people of Germany, 
where Luther was born and toiled, when Christendom, in the en- 
joyment of the blessings secured by the prodigious efforts put 
forth by this man of God, rise up 400 years after he was born to 
thank God for his bravery and fidelity, that the minions of the 
pope throughout the world should rise up and slander and vilify 
him. 

Rev. William Stang, a priest of Providence, R. I., says: "The 
so-called Reformation inflicted a wound upon the church, but this 
wound served for the discharge of impurities which wicked men 
had introduced into the body of the church." Because Luther 
raised his voice against the pope and his church, he is described as 
a coarse, vulgar fellow, a drunkard, a blasphemer, a lascivious wretch 
who was possessed with a legion of devils. The hatred of Luther is 
not new or strange. Shortly after his death, his doctrines, his death 
and the condition of his body after interment were the objects of 
ignoble calumnies on the part of Catholics ; they published libels 
against him, affirming that he sprang from carnal commerce be- 
weenthe devil and his mother ; they blackened his memory by ac- 
cusing him of having sold to Satan his eternal share in paradise 
for fifty years of pleasant life on earth, of having denied the existence 
of God and the immortal soul, and of having composed bacchanalian 
hymns. Notwithstanding this deluge of calumniating pamphlets, 
Luther remained the apostle vs^ho snatched the people from the yoke 
of the court of Rome, and led chem from degradation and dark- 
ness into the principles of liberty which he bequeathed to posterity. 
Rev. I. T. Hecker, of the Paulist Fathers, disgraced himself by com- 
paring Luther to Guiteau. He did not hurt Luther, but proved that 
Romanism degrades and dwarfs the intellect and ruins the soul. 

The faA is that, since the principles sowed broadcast by Luther 
have taken root, persecutions on any such scale as once chara6ler- 
ized the world are an impossibility. The conscience of mankind 
has been educated. Public sentiment compels nations to move in 
the beaten path of right. There is a power behind every throne, and 



244 MARTIN LUTHER. 

that is the produ6l of the sentiments uttered centuries ago by the 
word of God. Just when it seemed that this voice was dying out, 
Luther arose and spoke. His w^ords changed the configuration of 
a continent and made religious Hberty a possibiHty. He called for 
the little book. He opened it. He read it. He gave it to man- 
kind. He made the open Bible his unfurled banner. Because of 
its influence upon his own soul, he burst the fetters of superstition, 
cleared, as with eagle wing, through the mists of error, attained to 
the azure height of God's revealed truth and made it possible for 
humanity to walk in the light. This w^ork is of God. Salvation is 
from God. Man is the agent; Christ, the author. The work is 
to go on until truth shall triumph over error, and God shall rule 
on earth as in heaven. 

7. The source of his power was in prayer. 

A constant reader of the word of God, he did not, says D'Aubigne, 
pass a day without devoting at least three hours to prayer. These 
hours of devotion were selected from those most favorable to study. 
One day, as Diedrich approached the reformer's chamber, he 
heard his voice and remained motionless, holding his breath, a few 
steps from the door. Luther was praying, and his prayer was full 
of adoration, fear and hope, as when a man speaks to a friend or a 
father. "I know that thou art our Father and our God," said the 
reformer, alone in his chamber, "and thou wilt scatter the persecu- 
tors of thy children, for thou art thyself endangered with us. All 
this matter is thine, and it is only by thy constraint that we have 
put our hands unto it. Defend us then, O Father." In this way 
he lived in Christ. Today we see that there is no investment like 
that which w^e obtain when we give ourselves to Christ. The as- 
surance is for all, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Christ Is 
the life in us and for us. Blessed be his name ! 

Luther's death was peaceful. He died in Eisleben. This he wanted 
to do. This God allowed him to do. He had been to Mansfield to 
settle a difficulty between friends. He had been hindered. The 
storm came on. The streams rose. He could not get away. At 
last he started for home. He reached Eisleben, where he played the 
flute when a boy, where Madam Cotta lived, where he began to 
live. He was taken with a chill. He grew w*orse. Nothing helped 
him. He had fought his fight. He had finished his course. He 



MARTIN LUTHER. 245 

was ready for the crown. He longed to go and cried : "Father, into 
thy hands I commend my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, thou faith- 
ful God." Then he rested quietly and closed his eyes. A friend 
asked him : "Beloved father, will 3'ou die faithful to Christ and to 
the do6lrine you have preached ?" He answered, distinctly, "Yes," 
and never spoke again. So he went home to God. He was buried 
in Wittenberg. Living, he was the plague of the pope. Dying, 
his influence as a totality went forth to all the world. 

8. Lessojis -we should lear7i. 

Tell the truth about Romanism. Fidelity to truth is to destroy 
popery. There is a judgment throne in this world as in the next. 
Nothing bad can for a long time maintain the reputation of being 
good. The church of Rome is in utter antagonism to the spirit of 
the age. Repudiated at home, it will be despised abroad. To the 
great republic it comes to disrupt and destroy. Let its history be 
read and its policy scanned and studied, and its machinations will yet 
be opposed and thwarted. The American people are patient as they 
are brave ; they will yet see the truth, and then they will tell and adt 
it, and Romanism will die. This land is to furnish its grave, for the 
cry is now being heard, "Give me the little book.*' The book re- 
ceived giveth light, and the light of the word of God is the death of 
popery. As in the days of Luther, when, in Switzerland and in 
England as in Germany, men were turning unto God, let us pray 
that Romanists may everywhere come to Christ, and find, with us, 
peace in believing and joy in the Holy Ghost. 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW 
YORK. 



*' Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty 
works were done, because they repented not." Matt, ii : 20. 

A Romish fetter is worn by New York. Can it be broken? If 
broken in New York, it can be done anywhere and elsewhere, and 
there is hope of freeing this continent from the dominant control of 
a power that seeks to undermine the foundations of republican 
government, break up the public school system, and block the 
wheels of the car of salvation. Thousands are ready to surrender 
New York to Rome. They claim that it is in vain to fight the 
Lady of the Tiber on the banks of the Hudson. Hence, while 
money is freely given to establish home rule in Ireland, native 
Americans surrender home rule in New York and accept Roman 
Catholic rule instead, forgetful that it entails wasteful expenditures, 
restraints of liberty, and the dooming of uncounted multitudes to the 
dominion of superstition and the loss of all that brightens life and 
blesses the soul. 

No city on the continent has enjoyed the privileges or shared the 
opportunities of New York. Enthroned on an island, with open 
roadways by water to Europe and to the center of the continent ; 
with her net- work of railways stretching to every part of the ocean- 
washed republic, laying at her feet the produ6ls of every clime, 
without dissent and without question she holds the proud pre-emi- 
nence of being the most powerful city of the new world. The 
queen of the realm of commerce, she might be the dictator in poli- 
tics and the influential fadlor in religion, were it not that she wears 
the Romish fetter. A deep and unaccountable sleep has fallen upon 
the people. If religion were a farce ; if prophecies concerning 
Tyre and Sidon had never been fulfilled ; and if God's judgments 
were not sure to be meted out to cities that squander their trusts and 
ignore their responsibilities, they who walk the battlements of Zion 

247 



34S A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 

might be silent. But God is not dead. Judgment is to be laid to 
the line and righteousness to the plummet. This we know. 
Hence the peril for watchman and for people, unless repentance 
shall precede righteousness. The cry is : "How shall the Chris- 
tian church reach the masses?" Surely not by closing the doors of 
the sanctuary against them, as is being done in New York. Ro- 
manism is a tabooed subje6l in the pulpit, and its discussion is re- 
pudiated by the masses of the people. 

Great cities have great opportunities, and grave responsibilities 
accompany the great opportunities. New York began well. 
Founded by the lovers of God's word, for a long time her citizens 
resisted the incursions of Romanism, and stood stoutly for the faith 
revealed in the word of God. At last, Romanists w^ere welcomed 
as the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. They lived apart 
from Christians. They worshiped idols and bowed down to false 
gods, but did this under the cegis of religious liberty, as if that ex- 
cused Christians from proclaiming to them the gospel. The trouble 
is. that the Christians of New York have never felt, and do not now 
feel, that they have anything to do with the religion of Romanists. 
If Romanists choose to go to hell or to purgatory, the Christian 
churches feel that they are not responsible. They may deprecate it, 
and mourn their foolishness ; but they will not warn them of danger, 
expose their errors or proclaim to them the truth. They treat 
Romanism as if it were a thousand miles away, and as if its aggres- 
sive power had not captured the citadel of hope and broken down 
the ramparts of truth. 

New York is in the grasp of Rome and infidelity. It is there 
with the consent of the Christian people who clamor for a "simple 
gospel," and call peace prosperity, and a withholding of the truth, 
with the commendation of the friends of error, an evidence of growth 
in public favor. The education of the Christian people of New 
York has been neglected. The rule of commerce has objected to 
the rule of Christ. A pulpit with the lips of the ministry padlocked 
in regard to all living questions, and pews where the occupants may 
be assured of enjoying a service unmolested either by politics or by 
anything offensive or disturbing in religion, is regarded with peculiar 
favor by the majority of professing Christians. 

New York has not been captured by brave deeds on the part of 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 249 

Romanists, but by stealth and cunning, and by Christians withhold- 
ing the truth and sei*ving interest rather than principle. Hence from 
the beginning there never has been a free, outspoken and fearless 
pulpit in New York. Slavery ruled in the past as Romanism rules 
now. There are excellent gospel preachers manning the New 
York pulpits. Men of national fame, highly regarded for their 
Christian worth, tread the walls of Zion. They are eloquent in 
speech and with the pen. Away from New York, they are zealous 
defenders of the truth. The country is listening for the clarion note 
to be sounded forth by them. The enthusiastic audiences of men 
in Cooper Union prove that any one who will keep en rapport with 
the truth, with principle and with God's purpose to the race is sure 
of a hearing. 

It was in 1873 that I used this language in Tremont Temple, 
after my acceptance of a call to Brooklyn: "Two powers are 
in a death-grapple on this continent — the people and popery, the 
conservatism of the past and the progressive Christianity of today. 
Bishops of the Roman Catholic church declare that the church is 
above the state, and that the first duty of their people is to the pope 
and not to the nation that gives them shelter. One reason which 
reconciles me in going to New Tork is that I shall he^ at that 
gateway of the western continent^ nearer the seat of war ^ Then 
it was declared that a law^ was wanted on our statute books which 
should make it the duty of the superintendent ofpublic instnidlion 
to inspedl all schools, public and private, so that a uniform system 
of education should be adopted, with religious instru6lion provided 
and the Bible made a reading book in all the schools. That was in 
1873. In 1888, Boston came up to the work then outlined and won 
a notable vi6lory. 

In New York the battle has been hot, and is still on. Rome is 
desperate and determined. Protestants are, as yet, mere lookers- 
on. They regard Romanism as bad, as dangerous, as subtle, as 
insidious, and hope for deliverance, even against hope ; but they 
have not yet been ready to bear a hand. Once or twice they have 
risen, pushed Romanism aside, and then permitted the curse to 
work on. This was done in the native American excitement. It 
was done when Archbishop Hughes permitted his minions to tear 
down the colored orphan asylum and trample out the lives of help- 



250 A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 

less children. Then the people arose in their might, and Rome was 
beaten ; she went back to her altars, and the people once more forgot 
the treason, the plottings, the murderings sleeping in the heart of 
Rome. 

Left to herself, New York city — with all her wealth, with all her 
churches, despite her newspapers and charities — would be the plague 
spot of the nation, the cancer on the breast of the body politic, a 
city like Tyre or Sidon, borne down by the weight of her sins, and 
overwhelmed by the ^vaves of pollution born of the corruptions and 
shameless indulgences fostered and pampered by the church of Rome. 
It is the state that saves the city, not the city that helps the state. 
It is the 80,000 majority brought to the Harlem river which helps 
the good and true in the city so to control affairs that life can be 
made worth living within her sea-girt avails. The laws on the 
statute book, the commissioners of the police, the support of the 
press, the directors and influential forces in business, in education, 
in literature and in religion, come from without rather than from 
within. It is the fact that there is a public conscience untrammeled by 
Rome, mightier than the forces at work against the right, that helps 
and saves. The expense is very great and the burden is very heavy 
which has to be borne to keep this rebellious element in subjection. 
Politicians grow weary of having to provide the majorities sufficient 
to overcome the Roman Catholic and the rum vote of the city of 
New York. Already, because of it, the proposition is made to de- 
prive the Empire state of her proud position in the Union. Ignor- 
ance and vice are not helps, but hindrances ; majorities ruled by 
them are a curse rather than a blessing. The west, we are told, 
is on top, because New York city is crushed beneath the debauchery 
and crime pampered by a church obedient to the despot of the Vat- 
ican, four thousand miles away. 

Take the city of New York out from the control of Rome, and 
she becomes at once the glory of the nation. Then her Sabbaths 
would be respected, life would be prote6led, the criminal classes 
would disappear ; for "the terrible one would be brought to nought, 
and the scorner consumed ; all the deaf would hear the words of the 
book ; the eyes of the blind would see out of obscurity and out of 
darkness ; the meek would increase their joy in the Lord, and the 
poor among men would rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 25 1 

How this result shall be reached is the problem to be solved. As at 
present organized and run, the churches are closed against the dis- 
cussion or even the agitation of this question. Some of them are 
afraid. Roman Cathohcs are too near, we are told. They are afraid 
that windows might be broken if the truth were declared — forgetful 
that one window broken by Romanists would let in more light than 
can shine through all the stained glass of all the sanctuaries of the 
city. Others think there is danger to life — as if that were an excuse 
for the suppression of the truth with any one who remembers 
Christ's words : "If any man come to me and hate not his own 
life, he cannot be my disciple." Let us confront the cold truth. 

A Romish fetter worn by New York means, politically and finan- 
cially, such a state of things as, understood, would appall the stoutest 
heart ; and, religiously, a condition of affairs calculated to make one 
weary. Today, politically, financially and religiously. New York is 
dominated by Rome as is not Rome in Italy or Mexico in Mexico. 
In both of these cities the government has broken and defiantly 
trampled on the Romish fetter. Here it is worn by men who think 
their bondage a praise and their infamy success. The city has the 
reputation of being "the worst governed city in the world." A 
special message by Gov. Hill to the legislature, to advise a method for 
helping the New York city government to circumvent the state con- 
stitution and impose a larger tax than that instrument permits, showed 
that the outstanding indebtedness of the city reaches the enormous 
figure of $125,317,986 (annual interest at six per cent, amounts to 
$7,519,079. 16V According to printed documents the city raises 
annually for municipal purposes about $34,000,000, or three times 
what it costs to run the whole state of New York, and two-thirds 
of what it costs to govern all the states of the Union ; and yet 
8,000 children are unable to find a place in the city's public schools. 

A worse faft is that the city officials are in no manner accountable 
to the people. An official commission is a license to do unlimited 
stealing. An alderman who receives a salary of $2,000 pays the 
bosses from $5,000 to $10,000 for his office, and, before his term is 
out, has so much money that he cannot hide it and invests it in real 
estate. A senator or assemblyman pays from $10,000 to $15,000 
for a $1,500 office, and returns to invest his money in blocks and 
spend the rest of his life in elegant leisure upon his rents. 



252 A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 

Roman Catholics claim that because the government of the United 
States is without the san6lion of the holy father they are not bound 
to conform to its laws. From the pope down to the humblest priest, 
all are parts of a machine. They have no lawful wives, no legiti- 
mate children and no country. Dexter A. Hawkins showed from 
city documents that in eleven years the Roman Catholic church took 
from the city $9,547,471 . 19. This we know. The unknown may 
be the larger quantity. The greed of the church has been so great 
that the governments of even Roman Catholic nations have been 
compelled to confiscate the property, especially the real estate, of 
the church, as it is called. 

For twelve hundred years papists have been perfe6ling their or- 
ganization, until it is the most complicated and most perfect ma- 
chine ever constructed. Priests bargain with influence as capi- 
talists bargain with gold, and boast that they will make those feel it 
who will not bid high and pay their price for votes. Romanism ig 
so low^ in inorality that she is not ashamed of the shameful. France 
became infidel after 100,000 Huguenots were murdered and more 
than 1,300,000 banished, and the nation had no other exponent of 
Christianity than was placed before her by a priesthood whose hands 
were red v^ith the best blood that ever flowed in France. Can we 
hope for better things for the millions in subjection to a class of men 
who are the synonyin for lust and vileness.'* First Romanism, then 
infidelity, then revolution. Are we on the v^ay to that bloody 
goal ? 

Think of their boast. Said Herr Kinzleman, a Catholic priest : 
"We priests are above governments, above the emperors, kings 
and princes, as much as the heaven is above the earth. The angels 
and the archangels are much belovs^ priests ; for we can, in the face 
of God, pardon, which they have never been able to do. We are 
above the Virgin Mother of God, for Mary gave birth to Christ but 
once, while the priests create and produce him eveiy day. Again, 
to a certain extent, the priests are above God himself; for God must 
be, at every time and in every place, at our disposal ; he inust, on 
being ordered, descend from heaven at the consecration of the mass. 
God, it is true, has created the vs^orld by saying these words : 'Be 
it.' But we, with these words, create God himself." Such blas- 
phemous pretensions are held by men who favor education '''-when 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 253 

it suits them.'" "We do not, indeed," said the Catholic World, 
"prize so highly as some of our countrymen appear to do the ability 
to read, write and cipher. So?ne me7t are born to be leaders and 
the rest are born to be led. The best ordered and administered state 
is that in which the few are well educated and lead., and the 
many are trained to obedience., are willing to be directed., con- 
te7it to follow., and do not aspire to be leaders. In extending ed- 
ucation and endeavoring to train all to be leaders, we have only ex- 
tended presumption, pretension, conceit, indocility, and brought in- 
capacity to the surface. We believe that the peasantry in old Cath- 
olic countries two centuries ago were better educated, although for 
the most part unable to read or write, than are the great part of 
the American people today." Thus they declare that the priest's 
idea of education, which is to be illustrated by the teaching of the 
parochial school, is to have the poor kept in bondage for the enrich- 
ment of despots. Over against this is the theory of American edu- 
cation, which is to develop independence of spirit, power to think 
for one's self and to defend his thought, which makes the lot of a 
self-respe(5ling American superior to that of any people on earth. 

The Germans have discovered that Tammany Hall is simply the 
political organization of the Roman Catholic church, with Arch- 
bishop Corrigan behind to pull the wires and direct the machine as 
the interests of Romanism demand. New York might have broken 
the fetter and taken the city out of the hands of Rome as did Boston 
had there been conviction worthy of courage and courage born of 
convi6lion ; but, lacking these, they gave the city into the absolute 
control of the Jesuits. Bad as it is, it is to be worse further on. 
Those that Tammany needs as voters can hide in cellars or lodge in 
garrets, while young business men of ordinary means find homes in 
towns outside and give their social and religious influence to churches 
there. This weakens the churches in the city and surrenders the 
nomes to the very rich and the very poor — the exact condition of 
affairs where Rome fattens and liberty dies. Do not forget that it is 
impossible for a Roman Catholic priest to be a true American. He 
is oath-bound to a foreign despot, pledged to obey and work for the 
autocrat of the Vatican. That is his business for life, and he finds 
his reward in the abjecl reverence of the "faithful," in money, in 
the control of women, and in such indulgences as may suit his taste. 



354 ^ ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 

In ''Washington in the Lap of Rome" I have given Archbishop 
Lynch' s warrant for priests enjoying what passes for connubial feUc- 
ity, and in "Wliy Priests Should Wed" have told truths which the 
American people can read and digest and a6l concerning, or lie 
do^vn under the awful curse and be destroyed. 

1. If Rojne^ s fetter is broken^ the purpose of resistance must 
be formed in the individual soul. 

Break it there, and then freedom is enjoyed. It tries the faith. 
It is an expensive luxury. It cost me three months of travail of 
soul, the giving up of home and church life, of long friendships, of 
prosperity and of public favor. It will cost every man and woman 
dear to break this fetter. Thousands wear it and enjoy it as if it 
were the yoke of Christ. It is the yoke of the devil, and it will tor- 
ture and destroy you or yours. 

The fetterless man is a power. He is ready for the altar or the 
plough. He walks up the aisles of the church a helper ; he stands 
in the pulpit a prince ; he uses the daily prayer meeting to stay up 
the hands and encourage the hearts of those in the thick of the bat- 
tle against Rome. He is wholly given to God. There is no com- 
promise in him. What does God want.? is his only inquiry. Find 
out that, and you are sure to see it done. Business friends call a 
halt. What cares he ? Christ is his partner, and he follows where 
he leads. He knows how to be abased and how to abound. He 
keeps goods for sale, not principles. In the church prayer meeting, 
in the store, shop or caucus, he speaks the truth. If men tremble, 
he proves that courage helps but does not imperil. The people are 
enthused by his example. It was Luther out of the toils of Rome 
that gave freedom to Germany. Christians light their torch at the 
altar of consecration. 

2. How the Romish fetter can be broken in New Tbrk. 

The fetter is broken in New York when it is broken in the indi- 
vidual soul, so that truth concerning Romanism is spoken. You 
break it in the home when, in spite of Roman Catholic servants, 
you speak the truth. Let priests, bishops, archbishops and cardi- 
nals know that Romanism is despised as a power and hated as an 
error, and that you dare be outspoken concerning it, and the fetter is 
broken. Talk out in the store, in the cars or in the exchange, and 
you clear the air, invigorate the life and disrupt the power that ob- 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 255 

stru6ls the nation's progress. On the Fall River boat was a Boston 
merchant. He was talking of the aggressions of Rome. He had 
broken the fetter. A gentleman stepped up and said : "Don't talk 
so loud; be guarded: a Jesuit priest is hearing you." "Is there? 
Where?" Having had him pointed out, the merchant stepped 
toward him, rather than away, and said : "Not as an enemy, but 
as a friend, I want to say this country cannot afford to keep still in 
regard to the machinations of Rome ;" he then said what was in his 
heart, and was greeted with applause. Much has been done in 
New York. Truth has been told, and the end is not yet. 

J. Go preach. 

Call attention to the fa(5l that Romanism is not Christian- 
ity. It is not even a good counterfeit. In heart, in purpose, 
in plan and in a6l, it is the embodiment of a devilish attempt to 
block the wheels of the car of salvation, and push millions along 
the broad road to hell, as buffaloes were driven in herds over the 
rocky precipice into the embrace of death. Romanism seeks to fig- 
ure as a saint while it plays the devil." It claims to be all there is 
to Christianity, and thousands of unthinking Christians assent to the 
claim, by adopting ritualistic pradlices and by following Romanists 
towards Rome rather than leading Romanists back to Christ. 
Expose the delusion cherished by Edward McGlynn, the Nun of 
Kenmare and millions more : that though as a church it is not what 
it ought to be, it is better than no church, and may be used as a 
ship on which to work the passage to heaven. It is a doctrine of 
expediency, and will destroy those who give it welcome. The Ro- 
man Catholic church is not a part of Zion's fleet. It bears a pirate's 
flag, is manned by a crew utterly opposed to the principles incul- 
cated by the word of God, and is yet to be captured and destroyed. 
The true apostolic succession is the link between a believer's soul 
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is its name and obedience to the 
word of God its fruit. Peter preached this do6lrine in Jerusalem 
and wherever he proclaimed the truth. It is the gospel of Jesus 
Christ received by faith into the soul which brings one into the fel- 
lowship of love. Baptism is the door into the church, and the word 
•of God is the rule of faith and pra6lice. Say this, and you throw 
offthe trammels of Rome. Then tell the truth concerning Romanism. 
Show that it is a painted lie. Paganism was its mother, the devil was 



256 A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 

its father and deceived souls form its constituency. For the Lord 
God Almighty they take the pope ; for Jesus Christ, the dead and 
unresurre(?ted Mary, who with the redeemed waits the fullness of 
time when Christ shall come in his glory ; for the Holy Spirit they 
take baptismal regeneration and the sacraments. They turn from 
God and Christ and the Bible to a creation of their own hands* 
forming, and call it a church. Tell the truth about Romanism, 
not to Protestants but to Romanists. They are in peril ; they are ill 
at ease. Thousands of them are dissatisfied. The air is peopled 
with voices that alarm them. In purgatory there is no promise of 
rest. Christ says to them : "Come out of Romanism, that ye par- 
take not of her plagues, and come unto me, ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

Again, declare that Romanism is a menace — to Christianity, to 
education, to all that ennobles and blesses. This ought to be made 
plain to the people. Romanism, though a menace, seeks su- 
premacy, and claims to have obtained it in the city of New York, 
as well as in most of the large cities of the land. This claim must 
be resisted. Admit it, bow down to it, and such a papal triumph 
carries the country back to the dark ages, and commits every hope 
of progress to the monastery or parochial school, and all its liberties 
to the keeping of the inquisition. 

At this point opposition is confronted. Here you find who are 
free and who wear the fetter of Rome. The public under the 
spell of the prince of the power of the air will not take the subje6t 
into serious consideration. The press will refuse a hearing to the 
truth. The subject is banished from thought. Why agitate it.'^ 
To think about it is only evil, and that continually. Call attention 
to the aggressions of Romanism, and you are rated as a bigot or a 
coward. Uncover history and reveal its characteristics in the past, 
and you are accused of antagonizing the spirit of the age, which 
insists upon minimizing all differences of opinion and maximizing 
the agreements, following the things which make for peace, and 
things whereby we may edify one another, endeavoring to keep the 
unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. (Rom. 14:19; Eph. 4:3.) 
Such contend that Romanism is a se(5l of evangelical Christendom, 
and "that one se6l, even so good a se(5l as the Baptist, ought not 
to antagonize so bad a se6l as the Roman Catholic, lest we imitate 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 257 

the Romanists themselves, and appeal to party spirit in God's own 
house of peace." Men of wealth, who have millions invested in 
our institutions, refuse to give a dollar to stem the tide of papal in- 
fluence, though they know that, because of the silence of the 
American pulpit and the American press, Romanism holds the 
balance of power, dominates both political parties, and is proudly 
and boastfully marching on to an absolute supremacy. If anything is 
foolish, it is either to fear Romanism or to seek to placate it. Like 
every other error, it is only perilous when left alone. Grasp it as you 
would clasp a thistle ; throttle the error by telling the truth, and it 
dies amid its worshipers. 

How can this work be done ? Can Romanists be reached through 
the churches ? This was, and is, my belief. How can churches be 
entered when the majority of Christians are afraid to have the sub- 
ject even referred to in the pulpit? This can only come in answer 
to prayer. There must be found a place in which believers can 
gather for prayer. The spirit of God, in answer to prayer, can 
uncover blind eyes and unstop deaf ears. Then Christian minis- 
ters will see that Romanism is the embodiment of the spirit of evil. 
She prospers where religion dies and impiety thrives. She is the 
life of bad politics, of intemperance, of criminal indulgence. She 
has the rum shops, the brothels, and the gambling dens. Theatres^ 
dance halls, and all sinks of iniquity furnish help to Rome. To 
break with Rome, a minister must break with the world, the flesh, 
and the devil. He must come out and be separate. He must 
worship God in spirit and truth, and then he will hear his voice, 
saying: "Woe to those who call good evil, and evil good." This 
he feels, and resolves that, come what may — loss of money, of 
friends, or of popularity — the fetter shall be broken, and he will en- 
gage in this fight with Rome and consecrate himself to the rescue 
of Romanists from the grasp of error. Then he masters opposi- 
tion. He is no longer held by that indefinite, indescribable, 
shadowy fear that haunts the footsteps of so many. Millionaires 
who are moving are examples to the timid. To one I went, and 
he said: "I believe in your book and in your work. The one 
should be scattered and the other should be sustained." He drew 
his check to an encouraging extent, and added words worth more 
than money. To another I went, and asked him to attend a meet- 



258 A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 

ing in which I sought to win Romanists. He went. He applauded 
the movement, and by words and deeds has helped it on. These 
are pioneers of a mighty host who will yet take the field. 

Romanism is a menace to Romanists. This, men begin to see. 
Let this thought get possession of the minds of men, and thousands 
will engage in the work of seeking to save them, who will not do 
so from motives of personal fear. They do not believe that the 
republic is to be overthrown, but they know that Romanism saps 
the foundations of hope and whelms the soul in ruin. Romanists 
are without the consolations of religion ; they are held by fear. 
They know nothing of love. Their poor are negledied. They fight 
education. They vote as they are commanded, without reference to 
the country's needs or society's claims, but always, first and last, for 
Rome. Let us thank God that the dark ages are behind us. The 
persecuting power of Rome, under the burning eye of the press, 
cannot do in America what was done in Europe. The truth gives 
freedom, and Christians are the trained soldiers of Almighty God. 

In theology Rome is a inenace. 

Without a thought, we permit the inventions of Rome to rule us. 
They are robbing us of our Sabbath and of the honesty and integ- 
rity essential to national character. Easter is an invention of Ro- 
manism. We make it a holy day and festival. Infant baptism prom- 
ises to plague the evangelical world. Rome claims the right to 
every individual baptized by a Pedobaptist, of whatever name, in our 
penal institutions. The result none can foretell. Purgatory is ripen- 
ing into the doctrine of probation after death, and promises to bring 
forth a hai-vest that shall curse the world. The do6trine that the 
mass saves, that baptismal regeneration is a fad;, and that any one 
can baptize, even a servant girl, threatens to work mischief, for it 
carries your little children into Rome. It licenses crime. "That 
is right which is done to advance the power of the pope. That is 
"irue which the pope may please to assert ex cathedra. That which 
favors the interests of the church is good. Every crime is commend- 
able, if it be done for the church." Let this be known, and lovers 
of country v^ill unite with the people of God in declaring that 
Roinanists are not jit educators of our youth ^ and are welcomed 
to our shores to be delivered from the bondage of error and brought 
into the summer air of the church of Christ. 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 259L 

4. Co7isider the materials wheeled into the service of those 
ready to engage in this battle. 

The religious life in the churches of Christ is the main 
source of power and of hope. The lovers of Christ are the salt of 
the city and the light of the town. Enlist them against Rome. 
This fight is on. Slavery is no longer here. Men say : "Wait until 
rum is beaten. We need the help of Romanists to overthrow the 
i-um power. We will join you later." The fight is one. Rum and 
Romanism are parts of one army. They help each other. They 
are mutual helps. Slay them both. If this work cannot be attempt- 
ed in any church now in existence, let a church be organized for 
this purpose, in which the gospel of Jesus Christ in all its fullness 
can be proclaimed, and the ordinances of Christ's house can be ad- 
ministered. 

Perhaps a plan something like this might be adopted by any well 
located church : Keep the Sabbath services and the regular weekly 
meetings as they are, and have two evenings set apaTt each week 
on one a lecture on Romanism, exposing its errors and opening to 
Romanists the path marked out in the gospel, might be given, and 
on the second evening let converted Romanists tell their experiences 
and declare what God has done for their souls, and Romanists would 
come to hear and would remain to pray. Wherever the gospel has 
been preached in this way Romanists have come, and are coming, 
to Christ, who is "the way, the truth, and the life." The Pauline 
Propaganda proposes to meet a felt want in this diredlion, and open 
a channel along which churches may send help to open halls and 
carry on this work. 

J". Consider the work achieved. 

Rome as a political organization is being studied. The Ameri- 
can spirit is a fact on which patriots can rest with assuring confi- 
dence. When Rome is comprehended and understood it will be 
opposed by Americans in spirit and in purpose without regard to 
political or evangelical affiliations. If Rome is always for Rome, 
then Americans must stand for America ; and when that fight comes 
on, thousands who have fled the despotisms of Europe to enjoy the 
liberties of the great republic will stand with them in promoting 
education and enlightenment, even at the expense of bigotry and 
superstition. An opportunity is furnished Protestants, now that 



26o A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 

Roman Catholic children have been withdrawn from the public 
schools, to put back Protestant teachers w^ho believe in God and are 
professors of the religion of Christ, and the word of God, which is 
the hope of the people. America needs that Bible truths be lodged 
in the minds and hearts of its youth. The Bible Luther found 
chained to an altar is now unchained. The reception of the word 
giveth light. That light is essential to the well-being of the people. 
It is the light that lightens the world. Romanists need it as much 
as Protestants. Let Americans stand for American interests, and 
60,000,000 against 7,000,000 insures a vidlory that will emancipate 
the enslaved and redeem the lost. Romanists are helped by what 
helps Americans and injured by v^diat injures them. Destroy re- 
ligious liberty, and Romanism will be the first to be swept away ; 
as, in Paris, the Commune no sooner became mastet than it struck 
at Romanism, slew^ priests right and left, unlocked convents and 
demolished churches. So was it in Antwerp. The scenes of riot 
and of ravage were indescribably sad. The theory of the world is 
that, if religious liberty were overthrown Romanism becomes su- 
preme. This is a mistake. Thomas Carroll of Carrollton, Mary- 
land, asked for religious freedom, that the Catholics of Maryland 
might be permitted to enjoy the privileges granted to the Baptists 
of Massachusetts. He saw that such was the hostility of the masses 
to Romanism, the life-long enemy of freedom in the old world, that 
if religious liberty was not granted as a boon Romanism could not 
exist as a privilege. Rome will be the first to suffer if religious liberty 
shall die. As to the ultimate doom of Rome there can be no ques- 
tion. Prophecy teaches that Romanists are to turn upon Rome, 
rend and destroy her. Love shall be changed into hate, service 
shall depart and hostility is to become the chara6teristic of that hour. 
It is not because we fear Rome, as we have said again and again, 
that we war against her errors ; nor because we fear what Rome is 
to do, that we lift up our word of warning ; but because in our heart 
we love the lost and undone in her communion, and vs^ould fain cry, 
so that all could hear : Come out of her, every lover of the word of 
God, every servant of the meek and lowly Christ. The doors of hope 
are swinging open to millions of men and women who have been 
sitting in the shadow of a terrible night. The morning breaketh, 
the rays of the rising sun of hope flash their light upon the path of 



A ROMISH FETTER WORN BY NEW YORK. 26 1 

weary millions. Let them come while they may. It will not al- 
ways be morning. The opportunity to escape will by-and-by be 
gone. To those that remain in Rome there is a fearful outlook. In 
the Bible is the chart of Rome's future. Let Romanists turn to 
Revelation i8 and read it, and they will refuse longer to wear the 
collar of a slave, forced on them by this enemy of the Most High 
God ; but will accept the opportunity to obtain the blessing prom- 
ised those called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. 

The danger signal has been run up. The note of warning is being 
sounded from the Atlantic to the Pacific. All are beginning to see 
that our cherished institutions are being attacked by an ingrate foe 
within our borders. Prompt action is salvation. 

"The crisis is upon us, face to face with us it stands, 

With solemn lips of question, like the Sphinx on Egypt's sands : 

This day we fashion destiny, our web of fate now spin. 

This day, for all hereafter, choose we holiness or sin. 

* ********* 

By the future which awaits us, by all the hopes which cast 
Their faint, uncertain beams across the blackness of the past, 
And in the awful name of him who for earth's freedoin died — 
Ah, ye people ! ah, my brothers ! let us choose the righteous side." 



THE ONE MEDIATOR. 



**For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, 
the man Christ Jesus." i Timothy 2:5. 

The need of a mediator is seen, when we take into our thoughts, 
plans and purposes what the mediator can be and do. The world 
is yet to learn that religion — the a(5l of binding man back to God — 
is neither an accident nor a pretense, but a necessity. It was be- 
cause there was work for Christ to do in reconciling mad and re- 
bellious man to God, and then in bringing our redeemed natures, 
lifted out of the thralldom of evil, into the sunshine, into the 
liberty, and into the employments of truth, that God took from 
the bosom of his love his only begotten Son, and glorified him 
among men and angels and principalities and powers as the work- 
ing force of the divine government. The death of Jesus Christ on 
the cross not only opened the gates of life, but his resurre(5lion enabled 
him to confer power upon men, which brings man into association 
with all that is helpful and ennobling in the counsels of eternity, and 
with the manifestation of redeeming grace in and for a sinful world. 
The ascension of our Lord to the mediatorial throne places him at 
the right hand of the Father, where he is prepared to intercede for 
us, and where, in a state of expectancy, he dire6ts the contending 
forces of God's embattled host, and presides over the destinies of 
men, of nations, and of worlds. 

Christ Jesus, our adorable Saviour, is not only the brightness of 
the Father's glory and the express image of his person, but he is the 
mightiest, the strongest, the sturdiest, the most helpful, the most 
benignant, the most gracious being that it is possible to find, or 
know, or love. A Christian is a follower of Christ. A disciple is 
a learner of Christ. The reason there are so few Christians is be- 
cause we hide, with theological words that darken knowledge, and 
with our poor conceptions of Christ, which belittle and dwarf him, 
the truth that it pays to know and sei-ve Christ, and, more than all, 

263 



264 THE ONE MEDIATOR. 

that it pays to have Christ serve us. By so doing we ignore power, 
graciousness, love, business acumen, wisdom that never errs, and a 
leadership that is never misled, never confined, and never straiten- 
ed. Jc5us is at w^ork now. He upholds all things by the word of 
his power. He is more than the medium of approach to God. He 
is the infinite God. He was with God. He is God. He took 
upon himself the form of a man that he might w^ork with men and 
reconcile them unto God. He is the daysman between God and 
ourselves. There are two sides of this truth to which we w^sh to 
direct attention : 

1. The God side. Jesus Christ is the companion of God. He 
is w^ithin the hol}-^ of holies. He has access to the divine heart. 
His wish is law, his word is authority. We approach God through 
Jesus Christ. He pleads our cause for us with divine persistency 
and with persuasive skill. We obtain an answer to our prayers 
when w^e present a petition which Christ can approve. He has all 
power in heaven, as on earth. 

2. The man side. The face of God was uncovered to human- 
ity in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the sublimest fa6l in his- 
tory. Too little is made of the fa6l that there is one mediator be- 
tween God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ran- 
som for all, to be testified in due time. A mediator is a person that 
manages or transacts business between parties. A broker is a me- 
diator between men who buy and those who sell. A merchant is a 
mediator between those who raise grain and those who consume it. 
It is because of the survival of the fittest as true men, capable men, 
men in whom the community can safely repose confidence, that 
public esteem is a growth and prosperity not an accident. As the 
best merchant becomes the most successful, so the best mediator be- 
tween God and man deserves the largest confidence and the most 
absolute trust. V/e believe in mighty men because of their unpar- 
alleled achievements. Nothing so dwarfs men or parties or commu- 
nities as to reje6l the great for the small, the good for the base, the 
true for that wanting in excellence. Nations that have turned from 
Christ to Buddha, or to the Virgin Mary, or to men, that turn from 
the one mediator to spirit mediums, and substitute cheats and shams 
for a veritable God, with almighty power in heaven and on earth, 
impoverish themselves, degrade their intelle6l, and take the back- 



THE ONE MEDIATOR. 265 

bone out of faith. They who do business with God through Jesus 
Christ, who make his word the rule of their faith and practice, and 
who beheve that by him and for him all things were made, and that 
through him comes all power, become strong in God and in the power 
of his might ; they walk the highways of progress, enter the open 
doors of opulence, and open channels to the fountain of prosperity, 
from which come the streams of plenty that change the wilderness 
into a garden and make the desert bud and blossom as the rose. 
The men who are great and prosperous and of commanding influ- 
ence are the men who sei"ve — not the men who grasp and plunder 
and play the bandit, but the men who serve. A railroad king is 
the man who maps out a continent and lays roadways along paths 
which men desire to traverse. The merchant prmce is the man who 
buys best and most and sells cheapest. In other words, there is a law 
that governs business relations among men. So there is a law that 
governs, more and more, the relations that subsist between God and 
man. 

Jesus Christ is the monopolist of grace. He is the one mediator 
between God and man. Tell this truth and get men to believe it, 
and they will look nowhere else and to no other source for securing 
the help of the supernatural in promoting the work given us to do, 
whether it pertains to body, mind, or soul. Think of the biogra- 
phy of Jesus Christ as being an autob iography. "In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 
As Jesus Christ, the first-born thought, was the Word, which ex- 
hausts the knowledge of God, so the Holy Spirit, the manifestation 
of God and Christ, exhausts the love of God, and by him the cycle 
of the divine life closes. As a perfect spirit God thinks and loves. 
In the thought we behold Jesus Christ winging his way everywhere. 
In the love travels the Holy Spirit. God is no longer the great un- 
known. In Jesus Christ we have seen him. In the operations of 
the Holy Spirit we have felt the touch of his power and have en- 
joyed the embrace of his love. He is in us both to will and to do, 
according to his good pleasure. Christ was in all points tempted as 
we are, and yet without sin, and so knows how to open a door for 
our escape, and to see to it that nothing shall harm us if we be 
followers of that which is good. We are therefore permitted to 
come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may find help in 



266 THE ONE MEDIATOR. 

every time of need. The man who rejedls the help of Jesus Christ 
spurns the help of God. The man who claims that there is salva- 
tion in any other way or by any other name, and that he does not be- 
lieve in the atonement, who denies the necessity of any one dying for 
him, cuts in twain the last strand of hope, and floats out into the fu- 
ture without God and without hope. The man who went up in the 
balloon drunk and incapable of managing che airy chariot was wise 
in comparison. He was killed by falling, men say. True ; so was 
the other man. It is not enough to say that we are saved because 
we try to be Christ-like, to manifest his spirit and do his works. 
Christ cannot be ignored with safety. He is a Saviour. He does 
something for us which no man and no set of men can do for them- 
selves. It is when we receive Christ as God manifest in the flesh, 
and permit him to work the work of God in us, that we obtain 
power to become the sons of God, and are born, not of blood, nor of 
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The 
question deserves to be asked and answered : Have you ever come 
to God through Christ? If not, you are lost, no matter what may 
be your theory and belief. This is the message of the church of 
Christ to lost men. For saints, for those who want help to battle 
with life's billows and contend with the terrific storms of devilish 
hate, we are permitted to hold up Christ as the helper interested in 
your welfare and capable of doing for you all that needs to be done. 
The pantheist claims that nature is the revelation of God, the gar- 
ment and vesture of Jehovah. The Christian sees in Jesus Christ 
the revelation of God, and finds in nature a produ(5t of the work of 
his hands. The universe is the creation of God, for in the begin- 
ning he created the heavens and the earth. The atonement, the 
great distindlive a6l of moral mediation, was made on earth, that a 
holy God might reach man in ruin and in sin. Jesus is the medial 
power. On the God side he is sinless, holy, infinite, omnipotent, 
omniscient, and omnipresent. He could say and say truly, "land 
my Father are one" — one in essence, one in charadler, one in pur- 
pose. In God plurality is absolute as v^ell as unity, and therefore 
life passes entirely within himself in the inefiable colloquy between 
a divine person and a divine person, between a Father without gen- 
eration and a Son eternally engendered. Jesus introduces us to a 
God of love. He makes us acquainted with the Father who loved 



THE ONE MEDIATOR. 267 

US and with himself, the expression of that love. They love 
each other. What Jesus w^ants given, God loves to bestow^. Be- 
cause Christ is advocate, we are rich in blessings. Jesus is all and 
in all. 

On the man side, Jesus possesses a divine attribute. Every par- 
ticle of this universe is impressed with his seal ; every atom a lettei 
and ever}^ work a word. Man was made in his image. Christ 
had to do with all preparatory fa6ls in the universe, and was in them 
the chief as he was in the great aft of mediation. Every element 
lectures on his attributes, and every globe is a messenger moving in 
his sei-vice. The stars proclaim his glory, and the firmament 
showeth his handiwork and daily affirms, with voices innumerable, 
his eternal power and godhead. Thus the divine Logos came unto 
us to be the manifestation of God among men, so that it might be 
said, "He that hath seen Jesus Christ hath seen the Father." When 
he loved, he uncovered God's heart ; when he willed, manifesta- 
tions of God's power stood forth in action. Having thus intro- 
duced God to men, he fulfilled his earthly mission, saying, "I have 
finished the work thou gavest me to do." 

Jesus on the man side is as wonderful as on the divine. The 
disciples accepted the truth and rested on it, and claimed that they 
had seen and handled the Word of life ; the only begotten 
Son had come from the bosom of the Father to declare him ; and 
they beheld his glory and recognized his right to rule, and became 
willing subjedls of his government. It is that which keeps the foun- 
tain of benevolence full, and God's bannered host in the field, at 
work in the home, in the Sabbath school and along the thorough- 
fares of life. Jesus has absolute control. Trust him. 

The duration of the mediatorial work is co-eternal with the exis- 
tence of God. As it is the manifestation of the divine all-sufficiency, 
it follows that it cannot close until infinitude is exhausted, and as 
this thought implies an impossibility, it is evident there can be 
nothing more permanent or busy than the mediatorial work assigned 
to the Saviour of mankind. As we think of Christ in the morning 
of creation, making worlds and building universes and peopling 
them, so now we see him managing them and working them in ac- 
cordance with the counsels of divine wisdom. As his fitness is the 
special reason why he sustains that relation, the relation binds him 



268 THE ONE MEDIATOR. 

to perfect the work for which it exists. Jesus must reign until all 
enemies are put under his feet. This end is being reached. If the 
parts belonging to the process be innumerable, and if the accessions 
be also innumerable, we must have an infinite mediator to officiate, 
to minister to, and to diredl these agencies and secure the remote 
effects. And thus the glories which creation may display at any 
period indefinitely distant fi'om the first moment of the opening 
manifestation, and the power which the creature may at such period 
possess for appreciating it, will only be the means in the hands of 
the mediator for entering a new career of divine manifestation as 
Immeasurably distant and incomparably more glorious still ; wdiile 
the attainment of that becomes only the bare preparation for another 
beyond, so much more glorious than the preceding that the eye 
which had gazed on all the splendors of the past, and the ear which 
had heard all the speculations and conjectures to v^hich the past 
had given rise, and the heart which had been occupied ten thousand 
ages in putting all these together into every imaginable form of ideal 
glory, will yet have to confess that it had never seen nor heard nor 
even inicigined anything compared with it ; so that there is an infi- 
nite, all-conquering God behind effort, managing, shaping, and con- 
trolling events in order to conserve the highest interests of the race 
and promote the glory of the Supreme. Let us, then, unite in an- 
thems of praise to him who hath redeemed us, and to him w^ho will 
keep to the end what God hath committed to his care. This power 
is placed at the disposal of believing faith. Can we grasp the 
thought ? Can we hold it in our mind ? The Lord Jesus Christ, the 
equal of the Father in glory and power, is the co-worker of help- 
less man. In Jesus Christ the might of heaven reaches earth. You 
have seen the power of a mighty shaft turned by the weight of water 
or the force of steam touching the tiniest needle and working it with 
matchless skill and with resistless energy. You have seen the power 
holding stars in their orbits and a universe in its given course, pro- 
tedling the sparrow in its flight and the lily blooming on the plain. 
This does not describe the facl, which never will cease to be a w^on- 
der, that God in Christ should condescend to tabernacle in man and 
emplov man's limited powers to accomplish eternal and almighty 
purposes, and yet it is true. 

Vast as the theatre may be of the divine operations, Christ is 



THE ONE MEDIATOR. 269 

everywhere the medial power. Today the world is weak, and man 
stag-tjers toward conflici .'ind turmoil and strife, because this medial 
power is rejccSted. Workingmen draw oiT from employers, labor 
separates from capital, class parts from class, and society is divided 
into caste conditions, because this medial power is not employed. 
There is no work given Christ to do by these maddened, rebellious, 
men on either side. The cliurch is left out in the cold in all these 
disputes as much as is a water-logged ship from the count of an 
efieclive navy. 

Religion is kept for Sundays and san6iuaries, not for workingmen 
in trouble or for great corporations at their wits' end how to defy 
competition and still make a profit. It is all wrong. It is stupid. 
We ought to know God better, and trust more implicitly in the help 
of one who has done what man could not do, and vs^ho has found 
his opportunity again and yet again in man's extremity. Jesus 
Christ can not only mediate between God and man and save the 
soul ; he can inediate between man and man, between labor and 
capital, between different and differing nationalities, in accordance 
with the promise : "I, the Lord, will hold thy right hand, saying 
unto thee. Fear thou not, I will help thee." 

Our duty deserves consideration. The words of the context indi- 
cate wdiat that duty is. Let us hear the great apostle : "I exhort, 
therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
giving of thanks be made for all men." What a command to be 
dropped Into the resolves of a worklngmen's meeting ! And yet 
there Is power In it. Think of the employed taking to their hearts 
and into their prayers the Interests of employers, and asking their 
Saviour to cause them to plan wisely and pay generously, while they 
resolve to labor faithfully and live frugally, that all may be blessed. 
Think of the influence of a Christian company, in a factory, who 
learned of their employer's need and offered to give a day's 
wages to help him through. Behold the conception — the whole 
race occupying one broad level of moral equality, with no recognized 
distindlion in the sight of heaven but that of personal character. 
Then the dream of a Burns would be realized, and a man would be 
"a man for a' that." Wonder not that this ennobled the disciples, 
lifting the fisherman to the height of an apostle and making the proud 
and haughty Jew the champion of the brotherhood of man. 



270 THE ONE MEDIATOR. 

f 

Before Christ came, the dominating thought was that the power 
of the good spirit, the one supreme mind, was confined to the spirit 
world, and that the devil controlled this sublunary sphere. They 
believed that the evil to which man is heir lay enfolded in the con- 
nection of his spirit with the body and its material surroundings, 
and all deliverances or redemp tlve power were to be sought in the 
voluntary w^thdrawment of the spirit from matter, thus to be pre- 
pared for a return to the higher life. 

They separated religion from life. From this prevailing idea 
sprang the ancient hermit life of India and Egypt, the old Bud- 
dhistic codes for the maceration and starvation of the body in order 
to redeem the spirit from Its power ; all degrading, revolting forms 
of religious asceticism, from ages preceding the existence of Hebrew 
nationality down to the mean and miserable life of an Indian fakir 
or of the Italian mendicant monk of our time. There is no place In 
such a system for a great, strong body, fed with the best food of 
earth, furnishing a home to the Lord Jesus Christ, so that it maybe 
true. Because of this reception of Jesus into a strong and healthy 
organism the right to be called God's child shall be attained. The 
conception of a Christian is for the most part that of a puny, pale 
and emaciated body inhabited by faith. We have no room for the 
brawny arm of a giant or for the ponderous brain of a great thinker 
or for the resistless eloquence of a potential orator. It is all wrong. 
We are w^eak today because Satan, through the qualmishness of 
puny Christians, cheats us out of the use of the mental and physical 
resources with which society is blessed. This locks religion up In 
forms and ceremonies ; it does everything with it but use it. It 
bridges no chasms between God and man. It refuses to touch life. 
It dares not speak with the voice of authority to living men in the 
storm and whirlpool of life, saying to the preacher : "Live, as well 
as preach, Christ." 

Faith In Christ the mediator helps men. Faith cures grow out 
of It. The work performed by men like Muller is the result of this 
interposition of our personal God, at work for us and In behalf of 
us and Instead of us with the men whom it is wise to Influence and a 
pleasure to command. The work accomplished Is seen In the faith 
which enables the church to lift burdens never before taken, and 
jDcrform work that it seemed madness to attempt. Christ's presence 



THE ONE MEDIATOR. 



271 



among men disturbs the foundations of evil, lays broad foundations 
for universal philanthropies. The work achieved proves that man 
does not have to be less a man to have God's help, but that receiv- 
ing God in Clirist into the soul blesses and ennobles manhood. The 
Christian, instead of being compelled to withdraw from life to ob- 
tain communion with God, is permitted to welcome Christ to his- 
heart, and so obtain the blessing that brightens every joy and 
sweetens every cup of bliss and confers upon the soul of the believer 
immortal happiness. It does not withdraw man from the a6livities 
of life, but commissions him to proclaim Christ and to live the glad 
tidings of the gospel. It makes the Christian an illustrated edition 
of the gospel of the Son of God. It proclaims Jesus as the ruler of 
this world, and in this world. No caste, no distin6lion because of 
wealth or previous condition ; but one God, one mediator, one hu- 
manity. This makes the world the possession of a loving Father. 
In it we are to pray for all, love all, and work for all, and so shall 
we lift mankind out of the gloom of evil into the sunlight of an eter- 
nal day. 



THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR 
ROMANISTS? 



"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I 
have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing : therefore 
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Deut. 30 : 19. 

This is the keynote for the Pauline Propaganda and for the 
Christian church. Romanism has suffered a political defeat. Bos- 
ton has been taken out of the grasp of Rome. The opportunity 
has come to the board of education, not only to put back Swinton's 
book as a beginning and until a better and truer history can be found, 
but to find a way-out of the public schools (which Rome fights and 
from which she withdraws her children) of every Roman Catholic 
teacher now employed, and the way into that place for a teacher 
in sympathy with the spirit of our institutions and the letter of the 
constitution. The citizens of this free land owe it to the rising gen- 
eration to dismiss Leo XIII from the position of superintendent of 
public instruction in the United States. The story is told of a gen- 
tleman being roused from his sleep by some one saying "There is a 
robber in the house." "What is he doing?" "Hunting for silver 
or money." "Watch him, and if he finds anything come and tell 
me, and I will take it away from him." Rome has found something. 
Let us take it away from this robber of the nineteenth century. 

The Index Expurgatorius ought to be our guide in regard to the 
books used in the public schools. What Rome reje(5ls, we must in- 
sist on. What Rome hates, Protestants must love. Run over the 
list of the books she fights. They are what the children need. Give 
the?n -what they need. Have done with expediency, with policy, 
with sentiment, with what is called toleration of men who seek to 
scuttle the ship on which we all ride, of incendiaries in cities in 
which we live, of dynamiters attempting to disrupt and destroy 
the education of the youth, which is the foundation of hope for the 
people. 

273 



374 THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS ? 

We are in peril, and "I call heaven and earth to record this day 
against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and 
cursing : therefore choose life, that thou and thy seed may live." 
There is hope only in God and in obedience to his commands. Put 
back Charles Dickens' history and other books Jesuit-hunted and 
hated, chief of which is the word of God. Let the open Bible for 
all become our ensign. Let Rome see that w^hen she made an as- 
sault upon the word of God she got on the wrong side, and that 
when she fights the education of our youth she is assuming more 
than she bargains for. Roman Catholic teachers begin to see it. 
"What are we to do?" asked a female Roman Catholic teacher of 
the priest. "Get married or become nuns." Romanist teachers ^re 
to lose their places. 

God will hold you responsible if you do not take up this work. 
It is the plan of a beneficent Creator to give every one an op- 
portunity to be saved. It is with communities as with individuals. 
Today God says to the people, "Your time has come." Rome's 
power is broken. The pope may whimper and cry to his heart's 
content, in his thousand-room palace with his messeigneurs, nuns and 
women thick about him, saying "I am a prisoner ;" he may call upon 
Roman Catholics throughout the world to give him back his tem- 
poral power, and Gladstone may seek to help him in Italy as he has 
sought to help him in Ireland, but his days are numbered. Italy 
decrees that if any minister of religion, in his preaching, writing or 
conversation or in the confessional, shall speak against the king or 
against the unity of Italy, or shall disturb the minds or the conscien- 
ces of people, he shall be punished by fine, imprisonment or sus- 
pension from office. This law, approved by a vote of 345 to 6^^ is 
the most serious blow popery has received since the kingdom became 
United Italy. The pope and the clerics are enraged, but, neverthe- 
less, popery is being fought. The law seems in utter antagonism 
with our principles of toleration. But remember with whom Italy 
is dealing — with anarchists, with dynamiters, with traitors, with revo- 
lutionists, all under the name of pope-ruled Roman Catholics. Are 
they truer in America? Did they seek to do better in the republic 
when priests pulled down the flag, when Pio Nono recognized the 
Southern Confederacy and when Archbishop Hughes turned his 
minions loose and created the New York riots to resist the drafting 



THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS? 275 

of citizens for the army to fill our skeletc regiments ? Has she done 
better in regard to education? Does j' e not do the worst thing 
possible, when she builds the parochial sci ool and dooms the children 
over whom she has been entrusted with influence to go back from 
the soft and gentle and blessed light of this wonderful era to the 
darkness of a superstition which curses all it touches, and blights 
with mould and malice, with harlotry and hate, the victims of its 
avarice and idolatry? 

God is speaking to us. We are in his power. He sets before 
us life and death, blessing and cursing. Life is in education ; death 
is in the parochial school. Blessing is in the heart of the American 
people for everybody. Flora N. Candee strikes the keynote when 
she sings, "Raise the Curtain." Hear her: 

"Raise the curtain — let the brightness 

Of your cheerful light shine forth ; 
To the passers in the darkness 

It may be of vital worth ; 
Give a glimpse to lonely wanderers 

Of your household full of joy : 
It may rouse to new ambition 

Some poor, friendless, tempted boy. 

Raise the curtain — we are kindred ; 

Each to all is bound by ties 
Which forbid a selfish shutting 

Of ourselves from others' eyes. 
Share your light and share your blessings ; 

God hath made the whole world kin, 
And his love, so universal, 

Takes the weakest sinner in. 

Raise the curtain of your windows. 

Raise the curtain of your mind; 
Do not let possession make you 

To the wants of others blind. 
Helping others, we are strengthened ; 

Giving, we are richer made ; 
And no one so strong or patient 

But sometime hath need of aid." 

This is American Christianity in every line. 

Rome antagonizes and cries : ' 'Pull down the curtain, shut out 
the brightness. Bring in the gloom that came with the inquisitor 



2^6 THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS f 

in his black robe, with his black hood, holes cut, through which he 
might look in hate. Bring in the torture, the fagot, the cold, 
damp cell." Will you suffer it or reject it ? God is speaking to you. 
He sets before us "blessing and cursing." Which shall it be? The 
people are to elect. Shall it be life or death ? 

Not as a politician, not as one who would stir up animosity, do I 
speak these words. Romanists are embarked with us. Romanism 
curses them in this world and damns them in the next. Throw 
it off. God offers you life. You can have it. God offers it, and 
there are none can say him nay. The angel of the Lord put back the 
bolt of Peter's prison, opened the gate and let him out, in answer to 
prayer. So Christians may stand beside Romanists, saying : "Your 
fetters are loosened. This is your opportunity. Rise up. The 
door is opened. The gate is unlocked. Come with us and share 
the bright spring morning of our American life." 

1. The offer of life to Romanists through the gospel of Jesus 
Christ is iit order. Praise the Lord! 

Life in the word of God is one long illuminated pathway, from 
Genesis into the New Testament, at the end of which are the gates 
of the New Jerusalem opening into the glories of heaven. By life 
is meant a spiritual, supernatural and heavenly state, whereby we 
live to God and enjoy peace with him, for to be spiritually minded 
is life and peace. (Rom. '^'.6.) Sheridan said that the only safe 
Indian was a dead Indian. The only safe Romanist is one dead 
to Rome and alive to Christ, of whom it may be said, "For ye are 
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Col. 3:3.) The 
life in Jesus makes happiness, glory and blessedness a present and 
an eternal possession. This is the product of the new birth. "He 
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He 
that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God 
hath not life." (i John 5 : 10, 12.) "To him will I give to eat of 
the tree of life." (Rev. 2:7.) "Blessed are they that ^do his 
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and 
may enter in through the gates mto the city." (Rev. 22 : 14.) 

2. Before a RojJianist uoill seek life in Jesus Christ., he must 
he assured that he is iLnder condemnation of death and exposed 
to the wrath of God., and that there is salvation only in Christ. 

This he in part accepts and in part rejedts. He believes he is in 



THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS? 2^ J 

condemnation. Every Romanist believes that be is imperiled. None 
are satisfied. None are assured of salvation, not even tbe pope. 
Purgatory, ten times botter than bell, is tbe portion of all, as they 
think and believe. It is tbe portion of none, as the Scriptures teach. 
He rejects the truth that there is only salvation in Christ. Some- 
how, be claims, Mary can help ; the church can save, through tbe 
priest. Here is bis mistake and delusion. Romanism is not Chris- 
tianity. This we must proclaim, in tbe fear of God and in love for 
the lost. This is tbe mission of the Pauline Propaganda. We 
approach Roman Catholics not as enemies but as friends. Chris- 
tianity seeks the highest good of every soul. Round tbe globe tbe 
glad tidings of salvation must be proclaimed, to Roman Catholics 
as to others, in this land as in all lands. 

Who w^ould think of sending missionaries to Mexico and com- 
manding them to withhold tbe gospel from Romanists ? And yet this 
is being done by the Evangelical Alliance in Rochester and New 
York. Go preach to all, and obey the commission. Preach in 
Boston or New York or Portland as in Mexico or Rome. We 
want to get rid of the notion that Romanism is Christianity. Let 
Christians be convinced that Romanists are in danger, and nothing^ 
will stop them. The constraining love of Christ will break down 
all obstacles and overleap all barriers. Americans are not afraid, 
and cannot be driven to engage in this work through fear. Love 
will move them. Tbe constraining love of Christ is tbe power of 
God in tbe hearts of bis children. 

It has been truly said that tbe conflidl of Christianity and Roman- 
ism is expressing "itself in tbe United States as a struggle between 
American liberty and Roman tyranny." With that conflict we 
have only to deal incidentally. Tbe mission of tbe church of 
Christ is to tbe souls of Romanists. Follow a lost soul to hell. 
He dies. He trusts the church instead of Christ. He wakes up 
in despair. He is undeceived. There are millions more in tbe 
same condition. What can be done for them .^ Nothing. They 
are lost. Here are millions on the way. The Bristol was on fire 
and the passengers asleep. Will the people keep still or sound tbe 
alarm } They run through tbe saloon. They knock at tbe doors. 
A father and his children are in bed. He is roused and carried 
out with tbe children. No time to dress. The fire ! the fire ! Sup- 



278 THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 

pose someone had said: "They are Romanists, let them bm'n." 
What a thrill of horror would have been the result ! Would it be 
worse than our silence? Souls are perishing. Victory has been 
won at the polls. Don't stop there. Hold up the truth — that, though 
they throng the churches, bow down to idols, give their money for 
the repose of their souls, they are lost. I call heaven and earth to 
witness that I have set before Roman Catholics and all life and 
death. Sinner, you may hate popery and not love Christ. It is 
Avell to hate popery ; it deserves it. It is ruinous to negledl Christ. 
Before you I place the open door to life. Receive Jesus Christ into 
the soul and become a child of the King. Remember that papists are 
now without life. Never do I see an old, white-haired, educated 
Romanist, hugging the chains of his captivity, but that my heart 
bleeds. The keynote of the new crusade, as of the new era, is Christ 
Jesus, the hope of glory for all. 

j>. Romanists are ruined by thinking death life^ and Prot- 
estants will suffer by leaving them in the night of supersti- 
tion. 

There is hope for the average sinner, because he will admit that 
he is lost, that he needs a Saviour and hopes sometime to be saved. 
A Romanist will claim that he is saved, though he drinks, swears 
or sins as he chooses, and goes on with a high hand against God. 
He refuses to believe that he needs a Saviour. Jesus declares 
himself to be "the way, the truth and the life," and that no man 
cometh to the Father but by him. The Romanist cherishes a dif- 
ferent theory, rejects Christ and is lost. You tell him that life 
must be begotten in the soul by Jesus Christ. He admits that he 
is without it, but hopes to get it through the intercession of a priest 
and through the power vested in the church. He reckons death 
as if it v^ere life. To stay this delusion is the business of the 
church of Christ. Over it millions are going blindfold to hell. 
God's children inust speak or suffer the consequences. Some of 
them are now betraying souls by their condu6l. 

Thomas Bilney, one of the martyrs of the olden time, illustrates 
the peril of denying Christ. It was he who conceived the idea of 
entering the confessional and telling Latimer, the arrogant priest 
of Rome, the truth. His story touched Latimer's heart and at last 
brought him to Christ. 



THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 279 

At length Bilney was arrested. D'Aubigne describes him. 
Friends tried to dissuade him from teUing the truth. ^'Abjure your 
errors," said Tonstall. "Let judgment be done in the name of the 
Lord," said Bihiey. "Will you return to the unity of the church ? " 
asked Tonstall. "I hope I have never separated from the church," 
answered Bilney. "Go and consult with some of your friends," 
said the bishop, who was resolved to save his life. "I give you 
till one o'clock in the afternoon." He replied as before. Two 
nights were given. Then came his friends, who wished to save 
him, not comprehending that the fallen Bilney would be Bilney na 
longer. They conjured him,'with tears, to have pity on himself, 
and by these means his hrmness was overcome. The bishop pressed 
him, and Bilney asked himself : "Can a young soldierlike me know 
the rules of war better than an old soldier like Tonstall ? or can a 
poor silly sheep know his way better than the chief pastor of Lon- 
don.''" His friends quitted him neither night nor day, and, en- 
tangled by their fatal affedlion, he believed at last that he had found 
a compromise which would set his conscience at rest. "I will pre- 
serve my life," he said, "to dedicate it to the Lord." This delusion. 
had scarcely laid hold of his mind before his views were confused. 
The light went out of his soul. He had chosen the way of death. 
Death it was, spiritual and eternal, that threatened him, though 
it secured a few days of earthly life. 

Now see him. The Holy Ghost departed from him. God gave 
him over to his carnal thoughts, and under the pretext of being use- 
ful to Jesus Christ for many years Bilney disobeyed him at the 
present moment. Being led before the bishops on the morning of 
Saturday, Dec. 7, he fell ; and, whilst the false friends who had mis- 
led him hardly dared raise their eyes, the living church of Christ in 
England uttered a cry of anguish. "If ever you come in danger," 
said Latimer, "for God's quarrel, I would advise you, abo\ e all 
things, to abjure all your friendships ; leave not one unabjured. It 
is they that shall undo you, not your enemies." On the following 
Sunday, Dec. 8, Bilney was placed at the head of the procession, 
and the fallen disciple, bareheaded, with a fagot on his shoulders, 
stood in front of St. Paul's cross, while a priest from the pulpit ex- 
horted him to repentance, after which he was led back to prison. 
What a solitude ! what a hell ! At one time the cold darkness of his 



28o THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 

cell appeared to him as a burning fire : at another he fancied he heard 
accusing voices crying to him in the silence of the night. Death, the 
very enemy he wished to avoid, fixed his icy glance upon him and 
filled him with fear. He strove to escape from the horrible spectre 
in vain. Friends came and quoted Christ's gentle promises. Bil- 
ney started back with afiright. Anything but that. ''Ye moun- 
tains, hide me from the wrath of the Lamb !" was the only scripture 
in harmony with his soul. His mind wandered, the blood froze in 
his veins, he sank under his terrors ; he lost all sense and almost 
his life, and lay motionless in the arms of his friend, w^ho saw and 
said: "God, by a just judgment, delivers up to the tempests of 
their conscience all who deny his truth." ( D'Aubigne, Vol. V, 
pp. 321, 322.) This was in 1528. He repented of his sin and found 
life. Glory be to God ! He had freedom and death. He has come 
back to a prison cell and life. The more God comforted, the greater 
seemed his crime, and the more resolute was he in proclaiming the 
truth. Once free, he preached in the face of death, and found joy 
in Jesus even while burning at the stake. 

What was his sin and his shame.? Simply this: he tried to 
preacli Christ so as to give no offense to Romanists. It was a fail- 
ure then ; it is a failure now. 

Are there not men in peril, as was Bilney? The time has come 
to ask the question. Churches are closing their doors against 
the discussion of Romanism. Ministers are saying: "I approve 
neitherthe spirit nor the methods of those contending against Rome." 
What is this spirit.? It is, if I know anything about it, to warn 
Romanists who are in danger to flee from the wrath to come. It is 
to tell them that the church, judged by its fruits, caricatures Chris- 
tianity ; it does not glorify it. It incarnates a soulless despotism in 
the republic, at war with thrift, with prc^sperity, with spiritual 
emancipation, with soul liberty, with brain culture, with heart 
food. It carries men from sunlight into gloom, from education into 
ignorance, from virtue into vice, from the rule of Christ to the do- 
minion of Satan, which means everything antagonistic to hope in 
time or in eternity. 

The spirit of the workers in this new realm is to open the eyes of 
Christians to a mission field at their very doors, to an India of su- 
perstition lying all about them. Said one: "In telling us of the 



THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 28 1 

duty we owed to our Roman Catholic friends, you brought us into 
a new and unexplored country, and we thank you for the new reve- 
lation we have received that the gospel is for every creature. We 
thank God that the burden of enlightening the eyes of the blind and 
the superstitious, and of awakening the church to its responsibility, 
has been laid on such a fearless and bold preacher of the truth, and 
we rejoice that your work has not been in vain in the Lord. You 
have our prayers that the blessing of the Lord may continue with 
you, and that )-ou may be filled w ith all the fullness of God." That 
is the spirit. Is it not in harmony with Christ's commission ? Can 
Christian ministers afford to antagonize it? Can they do so without 
betraying Christ ? 

^. To get out of Ronie^ to Jiate Kofiie^ to abuse Home^ and 
stay away from Chi'ist is to be lost. 

Millions in Italy are atheists. Nothing is more hopeless than an 
ex- Romanist who has lost all faith in every form of religion. They 
are all about us. Rome has played them a foul game. It has 
robbed them of money, cheated them out of peace and rest, stultified 
their intellecls and dwarfed their souls. This is the time to say it. 
God gives us the opportunity, and millions are opening their ears 
to hear and their eyes^to see the truth. Let them not look or listen 
in vain. Set before them life and blessing, believing that the Holy 
Spirit will attend the efibrt and crown it with success. 

5. God^ who sets before you Ife in Christ.^ sets before you 
death in sin. 

Pray for the illuminating influences of the Holy Spirit to make 
this appear. Men are dying in a mine. The shaft is on fire. The 
wail comes up : "I am lost!" "I am lost!" How it stirs men! 
From hamlet to hamlet the tidings run: "Men are dying in the 
mine ! " INIy friends, millions in the Roman Catholic church are in 
such peril, and we can get at them. The truth as it is in Jesus 
saves. We must carry the gospel to them. 

6. Is not this a time of hope? 

Romanists in Italy are at war with the pope. The government 
of Italy claims the right to live, though popery dies. The fight 
is coming. The undeceived Italians are escaping from the clutch of 
the hierarchy. The pope sees it and calls for missionaries to work 
among the Italians in America. Let us be encouraged to greater 



282 THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 

activity. Tell them of Christ. They are sick of the despotism of 
Romanism, and long for the liberty of republicanism. Carry with 
this freedom the tidings that Christ died to save. 

Roman Catholics by the million are questioning in regard to the 
condu6l of Romanists. Two girls were eating in a restaurant. 
Both were Romanists. ' 'My brother is being taken out of the public 
school. My father says it is an outrage, but my mother clings to 
the priest at the sacrifice of the boy. What will I do?" "Do!" 
said the other, "leave them." O mothers, fill your breasts with 
heroic milk. Ignorance is not as good as education for your boy. 
Dwarf your boy and he will fall behind in the race tomorrow. Keep 
him in line with free thought and you give him power. 

Millions are thinking this. Invite Romanists to come and go with 
you, promising them that you will do them good, for God hath 
spoken good concerning our American Israel. 

7. How can this work be wi'ought? 

(a) By scattering truth. Tell them of Jesus by the printed 
trad: and the book. 

(b) By opening churches to this service. Ask the churches if 
their houses are too good for this purpose. Then let the errors of 
Romanism be uncovered. There are many waiting to hear the 
truth. Let the redeemed glorify Christ, their Saviom*. Let them 
tell of deliverance from Rome and joy in Christ. As a result they 
will see that the signal lamps have been lit in the tower of Christian 
loyalty, and that Romanists are being aroused from their sleep and 
are taking refuge beneath the banner of Jesus Christ, shouting as 
tliey come : "//^ whom the Son fnakes free is free indeed.''^ 

The pope clamors for temporal power. Let Romanists tell the 
truth and hear the truth concerning the terrible condition of affairs 
in Italy when the pope had supreme control in Rome. No gospel 
could be preached there. Not a trad could be given, not a Testa- 
ment be read. Prostitution was the rule and bastardy was the re- 
sult. The Jews were persecuted and locked up each night. Con- 
vents were prisons and houses of shame. Gladstone knows this. 
What folly to attempt the restoration of the pope to temporal do- 
minion ! 

The pope wants supremacy in the United States. That he may 
obtain it, his fiat has gone forth against the public school. It is 



THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 283 

terrible. The fight is on. To surrender to the pope or not to 
surrender is an American question. If it is done we compromise 
with sin and betray the hopes of the children of America. To edu- 
cate Roman Catholic children in parochial schools is to lower the 
standard. It is to fill the land with uneducated rather than edu- 
cated youth, with vicious rather than virtuous citizens. God is 
speaking to us : "I call heaven and earth to record this day against 
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.'* 
This is our opportunity. It may not be ours long. It is ours to- 
day. Make the most of it. 

Some things men can do. Some things men cannot do. Men 
can make laws and resist them, establish governments and over- 
turn them, but the issues of life and death they cannot control. 
In God's hand sleeps help or danger. Life is the result of obedi- 
ence, death of disobedience. Hence, no city, no people, can af- 
ford to ride rough-shod over the commands of God's word. Our 
God is jealous of his rights and rule. Ancient Israel understood it, 
and when blessed they sang, when cursed they prayed to be for- 
given. They listened for God to say : "Now "will I rise, now will 
I be exalted, now will I lift up myself." Then the people knew 
that rescue was at hand. Think of Israel at Mizpeh. They had 
been beaten at Ebenezer because they forsook God : at Mizpeh 
they came back to him in faith, and "said unto Samuel, Cease 
not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out 
of the hand of the Philistines ; and Samuel cried unto the Lord for 
Israel ; and the Lord heard him" and delivered them. They said 
so. 

The people were right in glorifying God for the deliverance 
wrought Dec. 17, 1888. The people chose the Lord and life. 
They manifested their love to him and their desire to obey him, and 
obtained the promised blessing, for "He that walketh righteouslv, 
and speaketh uprightly ; he that despiseth the gain of oppres- 
sions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth 
his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing 
evil ; he shall dwell on high ; his place of defense shall be the mu- 
nitions of rocks ; bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure.'» 
(Is. 33:10, 15, 16.) 

If there be anything that stands out clearly, it is the dreadful con- 



2S4 THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 

sequences that follow from the flagrant violation of God's laws. 
Up to now we have excused Roman Catholics, saying: ''They are 
educated differently." "Their eyes will be opened." "The common 
school and the newspaper will do much for them." Let us change 
all this They are in peril, because they reject the truth. A man 
may say that he does not believe in the law of gravitation, and leap 
from a roof; no matter, gravitation works, belief or no belief, and 
brings him to the ground. Willful sin and a willful sacrifice of 
duty v^ork disaster. In the case of a nation it is not different. 

What ruined Judah.'^ In its first stage, idolatry. In its second, 
Pharisaism. W^hat sapped the strength of Greece.^ Sensuality. 
What broke the iron arm of Rome.'* Slavery. What ruined 
Spain .f* Avarice. What threatens England and America .'* Dere- 
liclion to duty in contending for the truth. France might have 
been the light-house of Europe, might have had a Sabbath and a 
Christian civilization ; but lost all by refusing to contend against 
Romanism and neglecting to seek the salvation of the lost. She 
cried peace when she ought to have fought the good fight of faith. 

The effort to cause truth to lower its flag to error by purchase 
began with the race and will continue to the end of time, though 
all history shows it is foolish, as it is unnecessary, to placate error or 
compromise with its friends. God is the author of prosperity. If 
it be true that Daniel and Paul are paits of the v^orld's capital be- 
cause they were steadfast and always abounding in the work of the 
Lord, it is equally sure that others who shall be faithful to their 
trust shall enter into fellowship with Jesus Christ, and become heirs 
of God to an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled. The 
w^ay to prosperity and to success opens to us as it opened to our fath- 
ers — obeying God's word, telling the truth in regard to Romanism 
and all other errors and showing that the more excellent way is the 
path outlined by the Scriptures. 

The hopeful side is found in the fa 61 that there are more than 
* 'seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Let us 
thank God for it, and believe that in the future, as it has been in the 
past, "Men will appear like stars on the horizon at the command 
of God." Moral cowardice is always a mistake. Courageous en- 
deavor deserves and obtains great rewards. Daniel would have 
lost the respect of the world had he pulled down the shutters or 



THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR ROMANISTS. 285 

closed the windows when forbidden to worship God. Our Christ 
would not have been the Saviour of the world if a railing and ac- 
cusing mob had turned him aside when he hung upon the cross. 
It did not. Hear him: "Father, forgive them, they know not 
what they do.'* In Switzerland and in Germany, when the Ref- 
ormation made progress, converts confessed Christ before the high 
altar and in the presence of idol- worshiping throngs. 

A woman having read "Why Priests Should Wed" entered a 
confessional and told the priest that she had found Christ, as 
Bilney confessed him to Latimer. The priest, in anger, denied her 
absolution. The woman replied : "I do not need it. The book 
has introduced me to Christ. I get it of him." Let others follow 
her example, and the path of life will open to millions now sitting 
in darkness and in the shadow of death. 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY ? LET CAN- 
ADA, CUBA AND BRAZIL ANSWER. 



"Ye shall know them by their fruits." Matt. 7 : 16. 

Rome is in high feather. She has had a compliment. She has 
been declared to be the eldest church in Christendom, and entitled 
to be treated by the evangelical world as a branch of the church of 
Christ. 

All this shows what is the trend of error. The prince of the 
power of the air is manipulating public opinion so as to make op- 
position to Romanism an evidence of the lack of charity, and causing 
the individual that charges home the truth upon the "mystery of 
iniquity," the "beast of prophecy," the "Harlot of the Tiber," to 
be rated as a bigot and slanderer. In the estimation of these so- 
called liberal but in fa6t traitorous souls, the red robe of the cardinal 
becomes an objed: of regard, and in their opinion it is no impro- 
priety for the representative of the workingmen of the United 
States to declare his readiness, at all times, to manipulate his or- 
ganization in accordance with the wishes of the prince of the church 
of Rome. Not so think thousands and millions of the good and 
true. Not so teaches the word of God. 

The Roman Catholic church wants the earth and claims it. She 
declares herself to be not only the eldest church in Christendom 
but the only church in Christendom. Indeed, the Roman Catholic 
church claims that she is Christendom, and that all outside are hell- 
bent and hell-bound. Let us tell the truth, believing that if the 
American people come to know the truth the truth will give them 
freedom. 

The Roman Catholic church is not the eldest church in 
Christendom. The eldest church in Christendom was organized 
at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. John the Baptist was the 
pioneer of the Christian church and Christ Jesus the corner-stone. 
Jerusalem, not Rome, was the place of its organization and habita- 

287 



288 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

tion. This Scripture declares ; this every student of history knows ; 
and yet thousands have fallen into the way of perverting the truth and 
giving countenance to the error that Christ entrusted the organiza- 
tion of the church to Peter and not to the apostles. The statement 
that the Roman Catholic is the eldest church in Christendom de- 
serves to be taken out of the thoughts of men. The Roman Cath- 
olic church is the eldest of its kind. It is a bad kind. It has been 
a very bad kind all the way. It does not improve with age. It has 
filled the world with darkness, with wailing and with sorrow. It 
was the first to set aside the word of God and invent ordinances and 
sacraments to suit the whims, caprices and needs of those who 
found it in their heart to serve men rather than the truth, and to 
run the church in accordance with the behests of expediency, while 
they rejected the positive commands of God's word and tampered 
with the ordinances. 

From the mount of Olives Jesus Christ had ascenaed. "And while 
they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold two 
men stood by them in white apparel and said, Ye men of Galilee, 
why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus, which is 
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye 
have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem," 
went up into an upper room where abode Peter, James, John 
and others and "continued with one accord in prayer and supplica- 
tion, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his 
brethren. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,, they 
were all vv^ith one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a 
sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all 
the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them 
cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them ; and 
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with 
other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now when this 
was noised abroad, the multitude came together." And Peter, 
standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke to the 
gathered thousands. At last, "They were pricked in their heart and 
said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, 
w^hat shall we do ? Then Peter said unto them. Repent, and be bap- 
tized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis- 
sion of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 289 

they that gladly received his word were baptized ; and the same day 
there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they 
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in 
breaking of bread and in prayers. And the Lord added to the church 
daily such as should be saved." 

This was the origin of the Christian church, which preceded the 
organization of the Roman Catholic church by six centuries. Peter 
had a hand in this work in Jerusalem, but there is not a shadow of 
proof that Peter ever saw Rome, while history assures us that the 
fidlion that he lived and died there is without the slightest founda- 
tion, and deserves to be treated with contempt. 

The claim of Romanism to recognition as a part of the Christian 
world, with rights which must not be interfered with by evangelical 
denominations, confronts us, and must be resisted and rejected at 
whatever cost. The Evangelical Alliance has acceded to it. In 
New York city and Brooklyn, and elsewhere, they who are ap- 
pointed to canvass the cities and ascertain who are accessible to the 
gospel are ordered to pass the homes of Roman Catholics and leave 
them unwarned, to go down to the retribution of despair. It be- 
comes Christians to teach that the church in Jerusalem, not in Rome, 
furnished a model, and is, as Paul said in Gal. 4: 26, "the mother 
of us all." 

The statement, frequently made by apologetic Protestants, that 
Roman Catholics are doing a work which others cannot do casts a 
slur upon the wisdom of the founder of Christianity, the Lord Jesus 
Christ. It declares that Protestants are either recreant to their trust 
or indolent to an extent which should create alarm. 

The hierarchy is learning lessons of great value. The Roman 
Catholic vote begins to be despised. It used to be feared and courted. 
The fact begins to be appreciated that Rome only triumphs when 
Protestants sleep on their arms and consent to the humiliating ag- 
gression. The cities are in the hands of Romanists because the 
pulpit has failed to proclaim the truth and the press has neglected to 
keep the people informed regarding their privileges and duties. 

To warn and save Romanists ought to take a large place in the 
plans and purposes of evangelical Christendom. It does not do 
so. The representatives of the Evangelical Alliance in the large 
cities pass the homes of Roman Catholics and forget to enter them 



290 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

and speak to them, as if not knowing or remembering that "The 
entrance of thy word giveth life." Unless Bible readers and Bible 
lovers warn them, they are lost. Millions of money are given to 
foreign missions and home missions, and yet these at our door are 
neglected. Romanists at the present time may almost truthfully 
say. No man cares for my soul ! Romanists are imperiled because 
of the false views entertained by millions of Protestants. Episco- 
palians, high and low church, are claiming that they are a part of 
the Roman Catholic church, and that the regular succession blesses 
both churches alike. All this is a delusion. Roman Catholics 
spurn the partnership. 

It is fashionable to say, without thought and with small regard for 
the truth, that there are many in the Roman Catholic communion 
who love Christ. If this be true, then the Roman Catholic com- 
munion is no place for them. They should come out and be sep- 
arate and touch not the unclean thing. They are joined to idol 
worshipers. All this ritualistic observance, seen in nearly every de- 
nomination, is a bowing down to Rome. Have done with it, and 
turn to Christ with a new heart and a new purpose. 

The claim that the Roman Catholic church is a branch of the 
church of Christ is disproved : 

I. By the faith of the church. 

Rome substitutes for an infinite and holy God a fallible man, 
called the pope ; for Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God 
and men, the Virgin Mary ; for the Holy Spirit, the priesthood and 
the sacraments ; for the word of God, tradition. Rome is in utter 
rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ, who goes forth from con- 
quering to conquer, holding the bow and riding the Avhite horse of 
a despised gospel with great swiftness through the world. Let us 
follow our King. Jesus Christ is the captain of our salvation. Let 
us imitate his example, tell the truth, and refuse disguises, subter- 
fuges and lies. Christ had a bow in his hand. He leaves it in 
ours. We may use it. Take the arrows of truth ; shoot with pre- 
cision and good aim, and the arrows, guided by the spirit of God, 
shall pierce the harness of the King's enemies, making them ci*y out, 
"I am wounded, I am wounded." A crown was given to Christ. 
He wears it now. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Let all 
be loyal to him. He is to come again. Victory is in the air. 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 29 1 

Rome is to be broken up. Jesus Christ and the redeemed are to go 
forth in triumph. 

The sacraments in all Roman Catholic countries have degenerated 
into superstitious rites. Baptism, instead of being a simple burial 
in water as Jesus Christ commands, has become an elaborate cere- 
mony, in which the priest not only applies the baptismal water, but 
also makes upon the infant's forehead and the pit of the stomach the 
sign of the cross, puts salt in the mouth, anoints the eyes and ears 
with his own saliva, and breathes upon it, mumbling all the time 
unintelligible Latin. Baptismal regeneration finds its authority and 
authorization in the church of Rome, not in the word of God. 
Rome teaches that all who die without baptism are lost. The death 
of Jesus Christ for those who die before they reach the years of ac- 
countability is ignored. Rome coins money through the instru- 
mentality of such errors. The comfort provided by Christ is illus- 
trated by this incident. A Romish mother came to have her baby 
sprinkled before death. The minister did not rebuke her, but went 
with her and taught her the truth as it is in Jesus. He said to 
the mother, "What good will baptism do?" "Save my child." 
"How?" "Don't know ; the church says so." "Can the church 
save?" The thought flashed into the darkened mind, and she re- 
plied: "Christ saves through the church." "Did he say, 'Come 
unto me and the church' ? or 'Come unto me, ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest' ? In John 3:16 does it read, 
*God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him and the church should have everlasting 
life'?" Another gleam of light lit up the darkened mind, and she 
asked, "Does Christ save without the church ? " The answer came 
quick, "Christ saves, and he alone." "Is my child safe?" "Paul 
answered your inquiry by the words, 'As in Adam all die, even so 
in Christ shall all be made alive.'" (I Cor. 15 : 23. ) How hope 
flashed its radiance of joy ! Because of this, we see heaven peopled 
with the redeemed, so that it has been estimated that the multitude 
of the redeemed will be to the lost what those out of prison are to 
those locked 'within iron bars. 

The Lord's supper, instead of being a simple memorial of the 
death of Christ, becomes in the mass a mysterious something which 
the church has taught them they must worship, and which, in some 



292 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

unexplained and unexplainable way, appeases the divine wrath and 
secures the pardon of sin. The testimony of Hfe-long worshipers 
of the church of Rome proves that the ceremony of the mass is in no 
way calculated to lead the thoughts of the worshipers up to the Lamb 
of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. 

2. By their fruits ye shall k7iow them. 

Turn to Canada and see what are the fruits of Romanism. Can- 
ada is the seat of the beast in North America. The Roman Cath- 
olic church peopled Canada. Quebec and Montreal are the strong- 
holds of Romanism. Unless the Christians bestir themselves Roman- 
ism will have upper as she now has lower Canada, or she will hold 
Ontario as she now possesses Quebec. The English government, 
when the French Dominion was broken up, found Roman Catholics 
in possession, and compromised with error by recognizing Roman- 
ism as a part of the Christian v^orld, instead of the enemy of all 
righteousness, as it has proved to be in Canada. The result is 
that Romanism is an imperium in imperio. She is a government 
within a government. She tithes the people ; she makes them pay 
their taxes to support her pretentious claims, and is amassing millions 
on millions of money with which she is buying up the homesteads and 
fcms of Protestants ; so, slowly but surely, by the marvellous increase 
of her population as well as by her management, she is gaining control 
of the important centres and is ruling the realm. In the cabinet Roman- 
ists hold high positions, and in politics as in religion the church is 
an objedl to be feared and to be placated. In the recent adl of par- 
liament, which caused the government to recognize Cardinal Tas- 
chereau as a prince of the church, placing him on an equality w4th 
the representative of the queen, we see Rome's supremacy and the 
people's servility. In Canada the Romish church is in possession of 
more property than the government. It has more than ten millions 
of dollars in bank, to be used for propagating the principles and 
helping forward the interests of the church. 

Nunneries are places where innocent and unsuspecting girls 
are beguiled and imprisoned. A friend dined with a gentleman in 
Toronto. The attack made on Romanism was canvassed. The 
head of the table deprecated it, saying: "We have lived in har- 
mony with Romanists, and ought not to antagonize them. Don't 
you think so ?" His daughter, at the table, was a pupil in a con- 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 293 

vent school, and seemed wild with delight at the position of the 
father. The man replied : "Unless we are ready to sell out liberty 
and give our country over to superstition, such words as have been 
spoken are essential.'' There was a storm. At last the friend 
said : "Sir, are you not mad? This daughter of yours is a pervert. 
She is in Rome." The child hissed out a denial. The confli6l 
ragred. Revelations were made which fris^htened the father. That 
night he learned that his beautiful daughter had been tampered with 
by a priest in the nunnery, and the next day he took her to the 
states, hoping to save her. His sleep was the sleep of death. The 
nunneries of Canada and of the United States are the charnel-houses 
of virtue, and many of them the graves of hope. 

Are such places in existence.^ Read the story of Historic Monk- 
lands, where Lord Elgin once found a home and a shelter when, on 
the ever memorable 26th of April, 1849, he gave his assent to the 
Rebellion Losses bill, and returned through the crowds of mad- 
dened Loyalists, who followed him with missiles and cries of disap- 
proval almost to the threshold of his mountain home, where he 
watched with sadness the fiery flames which drove the seat of gov- 
ernment to Quebec and Toronto. Monklands is now a monastery 
or convent, the mother house of the religious order of the congre- 
gation of Notre Dame. There were, in 1883, eighty-six establish- 
ments of this order, which gave instru6lion to 19,000 pupils in Can- 
ada and the United States. Now there are 102, with a yearly 
attendance of between 22,000 and 23,000 pupils. Flourishing in- 
stitutions under the control of the mother house have been estab- 
lished outside of Quebec, in Ottawa, Kingston, Peterboro, West- 
port, Williamstown, Brockville, Trenton, St. Andrew's in Ontario, 
with others in New York, Chicago, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick 
and Prince Edward's Isle. In the city of Montreal alone these 
ladies have charge of seventeen educational establishments. These 
institutions are presided over by 900 inembers of the order, the most 
of whom have made their novitiate in that city, while there are 160 
novices at the present time. 

The Reverend Mother Marguerite Bourgeoys was born in Troyes, 
France, April 17, 1620, and accompanied de Maisonneuve to Canada 
in 1653. She began her work among the Indians, and in the parlor 
of the convent there hangs a perfedl representation of the good lady 



294 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

drawing to her breast a little Indian girl who seeks her protedlion. 
The chapel, with its white marble altar, contains seats for 250 young 
ladies, among whom are forty belonging to the different Protestant 
denominations. One surprising yet very practical feature was a 
class in stenography, where a dozen young ladies were plodding 
along through Ben Pitman, being fitted for the offices of distin- 
guished Protestants, wiiose correspondence and secrets may, through 
them, be made known to the priests. The teachers in these schools 
are without salary. All that is received for tuition is used to build 
up the order, in addition to which are the vast sums which come to 
them through nuns of wealth, who take the black veil and sur- 
render their all to the order. 

Now in this magnificent establishment are places from which 
escape is next to impossible. In such a school taught Abelard. 
Abelard and Heloise are names which are classic. Abelard ruined 
Heloise. She bore him a child. He married her in secret, then 
gave her to a convent. Her friends took Abelard, emasculated 
him and left him homeless to live and love. Who thinks of it.? 

Nunneries are places where the most terrible conjlids may 
rage and the most horrid cruelties fjzay be ena6led. Fa6ls prov- 
ing this are ignored, or treated as if they were exceptions to the rule. 
In Toronto' a nun escaped, ran along the street to a house and cried 
for shelter. Before the family could get to the door, two sisters 
grasped her and carried her back to the prison-house of sorrow and 
shame, and there she is at this hour, in helpless bondage, because 
convents are not inspefted. Mrs. Julia McNair Wright tells of an 
abbess who had been stolen from parents and from lover, and was 
given position because of her supposed wealth. At last it was found 
that her fortune had been dissipated; she was poor. When this 
truth came out, she became an objedl of aversion and hate. She who 
had lorded it over all as queen was banished. To her the bishop 
said: "You shall have no more luxury and adoration; you shall 
work and be restricted and restrained ; you will labor in a humbler 
sphere, and in obedience." "Humility, obedience, submission" — 
w^ords in her vow — now at last came with their full meaning to her. 
Out of that splendid position, where pride dwelt royally as Lucifer 
in pandemonium, where were gold and glitter, music and jewels, 
luxury and pride — if not peace of soul — went the nun who had be- 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 295 

trayed parents and lover for a church without love, w^ithout rewards, 
a church ruled by selfishness and sordid avarice. The immense 
sacrifice of her early life, the equally immense sins of which she had 
been guilty, all the losses, the hopes, the proud anticipations, came 
to wreck. The ruin of the present, the blackness of the future, all 
came upon her. She tried to flee, but could not. Her stormy 
nature lashed itself to fury like a sea in a hurricane. vShe tore her 
hair, she cursed her name and day, she beat her turbulent bosom. 

Hogan tells of a nun debauched by her confessor, and says : 
"Every nun has a confessor and every confessor has a concubine, 
and there are very few of them who have not several." 

It is possible to place a young lady in a nunnery, confine her, shut 
her out from home and friends, claim that she is dead and leave her 
imprisoned for life. If this is possible, is it not your duty to make 
it impossible? "Fools, dolts," says Hogan, "are you wiio contrib- 
ute to the support of popish nunneries. Are females who have been 
prostitutes in foreign countries, and who, in nine cases out of ten, 
continue so here, the only teachers competent to instruct your 
daughters? Are there no good Protestant schools?" The story 
from Toronto, printed in the press, of a nun leaping from a win- 
dow and fired at by a priest indicates to what torments they are 
subje6led. That is not all. Can we not look behind that and read 
a tragedy which is terrible and pitiable ? 

In BuflTalo a gentleman connected with one of the influential papers 
gave me this story : A beautiful woman was loved by a priest and 
captured by him. She was carried to a .nunnery and kept in con- 
finement ; she had everything heart could desire but liberty ; she gave 
birth to a child. On a high day, seeing an opportunity to escape, 
she availed herself of it, came to his father's house, told her story and 
was hidden, and is in concealment now. This all occurred in 
Canada. 

The perils of convent life are overlooked. The influence of sol- 
itude on the passions has been fully set forth by Zimmerman. An 
individual entering a convent and taking the veil does so for what 
may be gained, not because of any change of heart. As a result, 
such persons carry into the convent the same spirit, passions and 
desires that reach them in the world. A nun loves her priest. The 
fight for lovers is as fierce behind convent walls as in the outer 



296 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

world. All this means more than we can describe. Think of a 
young woman with time hanging on her hands, with the possibility 
of giving loose rein to passion and to love, v^ithout let or hindrance. 
It is possible. May it not be probable? The wom.en who have 
written of convent life tell this. In my pocket is a letter written by 
a gentleman well known in this city and the state, v^ho speaks of the 
bishop of a certain diocese, known to be the father of three children 
borne him by the lady superior, and the fa6l recognized. If this can 
be true of one convent, why not of all ? The vow of chastity forbids 
a nun to love any but Christ. But they cannot and do not keep this 
vow. Nuns have their lovers among the priests. These mingle 
together. "I have seen," said Edith O'Gorman, "six sisters in love 
with one priest. He only loved one. Consequently they wxre un- 
happy and jealous." All tell of the horrible cruelty of nuns. "I 
shall never forget a motherless orphan's cries foi^ mercy, as it was 
whipped and thrown into a tub of cold water." Iron cages are found, 
and cells where they are buried alive. 

Two names are familiar to the reading world — those of William 
Hogan, for years priest of vSt. Mary, Philadelphia, and Maria Monk, 
whose disclosures of convent life in Montreal have been vehemently 
denied and as stoutly proven. These words are pertinent, from 
William Hogan ( Popery as It Was and as It Is, p. 131 ) : He says : 
"It is not long since I met with a Protestant friend of mine, and in 
the course of conversation some allusion was made to the subjedl of 
nunneries. He observed that their schools were excellent ; that his 
daughter had just finished her education there and had returned 
home in perfect ecstasy with her school, with the lady abbess who 
presided over it and with all the nuns by w^hom she had been edu- 
cated. Truly and from my heart I pity the female who risks her- 
self in the school of Jesuit nuns. She hazards all that is dear to 
her. She may leave it single-minded and innocent as she entered, 
but w^oe be to those who become nuns. I have been chaplain to 
one of those nunneries, and I assure all, on the honor of a man, 
that whoever takes the black veil must become subservient to the 
wish and desire of popish priests and Jesuits." 

The way girls are captured deserves to be considered. A gen- 
tleman in California left his daughter to board in a Roman Catholic 
home. She was carried to a nunnery, supposing she was going to 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 297 

an academy. The carriage stops. She is hurried up the steps, 
pushed and led along the hall into a splendid apartment- A tall, 
splendidly formed woman enters, and clasps her hands, saying: "Is 
this our friend. Miss — ?" "Yes," said the girl, "but where am I.'* 
Madam, you are an abbess !" "Certainly, my dear.'' "What am I 
here for? I started to go to school." "Very true, and I was re- 
quested to receive you as a pupil. Did you not know you were 
coming here?" asked the wily abbess. "No," said the girl. "My 
father is a Protestant, so am I. I want to get out. I want to go 
home." That girl was left there and reported dead, and a coffin 
containing a corpse said to be hers, she being represented to have 
died with small pox, was buried, and the name was lost. At last, 
through the help of a v/oman dressed like a inan, the companion of 
the bishop, she escaped, reached her father and uncovered the bar- 
barity, the pollution, the wickedness of the convent — and no one 
cared for it. Romanism as the spouse of Christ has a right to per- 
form these infamies, and Protestants are told to keep still about it. 
Shall an organization that contains one- sixth of the population of 
Ontario and furnishes five-sixths of the crime be reckoned as a branch 
of the church of Christ? 

In Canada the school moneys are divided. The state supports 
Romanism as it does not support Protestantism, and yet, where Ro- 
manism is in the ascendant, the people as a rule can neither read nor 
write. Read the story of the barbarities practiced on them. Be- 
hold their superstitious practices, linked to a poverty that is de- 
grading. Ride through the Province of Qj.iebec and see those mag- 
nificent churches and convents, surrounded by people living in poor 
homes and eking out a bare subsistence, and }et contributing, from 
their poverty, millions to support priests reveling in dissipation 
and given up to all forms of indulgence. 

There is hope in an open Bible for Canada. Bible readers are 
being born into the work who are opening blind eyes and unstop- 
ping deaf ears, and if those people there will work, salvation is at 
the door. Thousands and hundreds of thousands are pouring into 
the United States. Meet them with the gospel, and they shall 
come from darkness into light. 

The fruits of Romanism are deadening. Look at Cuba. For 
more than three hundred years Romanism has been absolute ruler 



29S IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

of the Gem of the Antilles. As a result, the Sabbath is unknown. 
Theatres and brothels yield a revenue to the church. Bull-fights and 
circuses change the Sabbath of the Bible into the gala day of Rome. 
Prostitution is the rule. The priests trample on the commands of 
the word of God, and lead the people in wicked pracStices. Schools 
are of the poorest sort. The education of the people is opposed, 
and children grow up in ignorance and superstition. There lies 
the island at our very doors. We send missionaries to India, to 
Africa, to Europe, but leave Cuba unthought of because Romanism 
is in charge. What is the result? In the scale of civilization she 
is lower than either China, where the religion of Confucius is in 
vogue, or India, where Brahmanism is in the ascendant. Can this 
be right.? People of America, it is all v/rong. For the souls of 
Cubans and of the people dwelling in Hayti and San Domingo 
Christ died. God is thinking of them and opening the way for the 
gospel of Jesus Christ through providences that are as glorious as 
they are mysterious. Jesus is speaking in Cuba through awakened 
thousands, saying : "I am the light of the world ; he that foUoweth 
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. " 
(John 8:12.) 

In Brazil it is as bad. The church of Rome, which has had un- 
disputed sway there for 300 years, is responsible for the heathenish 
ideas of God and religion, the heathenish customs, the heathenish 
morality, the heathenish superstitions, which in that land are so no- 
ticeable ; and, sadder still, on her must be laid the blame of a fear- 
ful uncertainty and hopelessness as to the life beyond the grave. 
For, though they can burn the Bible, reject Christ and fight the 
religion of the New Testament, death comes all the same, and 
after death there is the judgment. We must follow^ deceived Roman- 
ists to hell as Payson in Portland followed lost souls, and then the 
agony will beget travail of soul and a determination to seek and save 
the lost. There is nothing in this so-called religion that makes it 
tolerable, except the influence it exerts over men politically, caus- 
ing bishops and priests to hold them as sheep to be sold to the high- 
est bidders. Break this power and the power disintegrates. Eman- 
cipate Romanists and the press will no longer cotton to cardinals 
and bishops. 

In China, where, a little while ago, Romanism numbered 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 299 

4,000,000, in little over a year the number of devotees fell off to 
400,000. (Examiner, New York, April 21, 1887.) Let the truth 
be proclaimed, and it will be the same in America. Already i8,- 
000,000 have fled from beneath the sceptre of Romanism and have 
come into the enjoyment of liberty. Others are on the way. Ro- 
manists, while they remain in Rome , rejedl Christ's leadership. The 
commands of the word of God are ignored. This we are to say, 
in fidelity to the truth and in love for the lost. Romanism as a re- 
ligion is a deception and fraud. The pretension that the Roman 
Catholic church is the mother church is a deception. In "Wash- 
ington in the Lap of Rome" and "Rome in America," proofs in 
abundance have been furnished that there is no scriptural ground 
for the supremacy of Peter or for the supposition that he held any 
chief rank with the apostles. He was a brother beloved. Af 
ter his conversion, on the day of Pentecost and in later years, he 
preached with matchless and convincing p ower, and led vast num- 
bers to Christ. Rome is anti-Christ. She is the harlot of the 
Tiber. America is not her home. Here she is a foreigner. We 
will not give her naturalization papers. She must remain in an- 
tagonism to our life and spirit, in appearance as in fa(5l. 

J. The condud of Romanists disproves their claim that she 
is a branch of the church of Christ. 

Romanism is the incarnation of Satan, as Christianity is the in- 
carnation of Christ. It is an insult to Christianity to have Cardinal 
Gibbons with his red robes invited to pray at the centennial of 
the constitution, or to have Archbishop Corrigan brought into con- 
ference in regard to the celebration of any event with which George 
Washington was associated. 

Romanists have no respe6l for the commands of God. They 
trample on the teachings of the word. 

The deceptions practiced by Rome surpass belief.. For years she 
has traded on a letter purporting to come from Jesus Christ and to 
have been found beneath a stone. In Mexico recently, at the ded- 
ication of a church, she claimed to have been entrusted with a letter 
from God, which reads as follows: "My beloved little ones, re- 
deemed by the holy cross : If it were not for the supplication of the 
Holy Mother, ere this I w^ould have destroyed you ; and now, only 
for the sake of my Holy Mother, I notify you all that if you fail to 



300 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

venerate our Mother, the holy cross and the holy church, I will 
send upon you such a punishment that your hearts may be broken 
into pieces by hunger, and you will not be able to obtain any relief 
whatever, in this world nor in the world to come. Life will be 
made miserable to you all if you do not turn to God and give alms. 
If any will give Friday alms and have not happiness, he shall have 
it at my hand. " It is declared that this letter was delivered by a 
woman dressed in blue to a full-bearded man on the mountains. 
Does it not make you weary to think of such a letter being scattered 
among the people, praising the holy cross and the Holy Mother 
in the name of God ? 

Well has Spurgeon said, in his Treasury of David: "We think 
too much of God's foes, and talk of them with too great a respect. 
Who is the pope of Rome? 'His holiness.' Call him not so, but 
call him his blasphemer ! his profanity ! his impudence ! What are 
he and his cardinals and his legates but the image and incarnation 
of anti-Christ ? " 

In Boston, a poor woman was unable to pay the colle6lor for her 
gas liglit. Her money had all been taken by the priest for masses. 
The poverty resulting from these demands made upon the laboring 
classes is beyond belief. 

Said Rev. J. B. Howell, Sao Paulo, Brazil: "The system 
of morality enforced by the priests is not the code found in the Bi- 
ble. The Sabbath is profaned. Business goes on as usual ; streets 
and stoi-es are as full as on other days ; indeed, in many of the interior 
towns, the only market day is Sunday, and the market place is 
usually the square in front of the church, so the country people readily 
combine religion and business, by first going to mass and then sell- 
ing what they have brought and making their purchases for the 
v;^eek. Cases are known in which the market day has been changed 
from a week day to Sunday through the priest's influence. Work is 
often going on in one part of the church on Sabbath while the mass 
is being celebrated in another. The Biblical distribution of time is 
rejected. The Sabbath is disregarded and dishonored. Holy days 
abound and are kept by the people. Christmas is observed only 
by foreigners. The month of May is given up to the worship of 
Mary, daily services in her honor being held during all that time. 

"The social fabric rests upon an unscriptural basis, because the 



IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 3OI 

father confessor comes between husband and wife, parent and 
child. There, as here, a priest entirely ontsic'e th.e family has a right 
to inquire into the inmost secrets, i;nd e\cn countermand parental 
orders, thereby transferring to a stranger the honor and obedience 
which, according to the Scrij^tures, belong to the united head of the 
home. There is thus created a relation between one man and 
many women, more intimate, more authoritative and more sacred 
than the marriage relation, in virtue of which it becomes the man- 
ifest duty of the woman to confide to one not a member of the fam- 
ily 'matters which should not be mentioned between husband and 
wife, to seek his counsel rather than that of the husband and 
to give it more importance, thus making the real head of the fami- 
ly the priest. " 

The results in Brazil are terrible to contemplate. There the 
moral restraints wdrich here compel priests to cloak their shame are 
unknow^n. As a result, maidens are betrayed, wives are estranged 
from their husbands, and, living as the concubines of priests, at' 
test the inherent evil of this unscriptural institution ; while for the 
husbands there is no escape by divorce. Is such an institution a 
branch of the church of Christ.^ 

"The stigma in other countries attached to illegitimate birth is 
here almost entirely wanting. Illegitimacy is not the slightest bar 
to social success or political advancement. The children of priests, 
through their fathers' influence, are placed in honorable and lucra- 
tive positions all over the land, are received into the most aristo- 
cratic society and many into the best families, until 'fortunate as the 
son of a priest' has grown into a proverb." Love for the truth is 
dead. The worship of the true God is unknown. 

^. The ti'uth saves. 

In Brazil whole towns are renouncing popery and turning unto 
Christ, through the instrumentality of the preached gospel. 

In Cuba this is very manifest. Rev. A. J. Diaz, a graduate of 
the university of Havana, wdien 22 years old joined the rebels in 
seeking to throw off' the Spanish yoke. Confronted by Spanish 
soldiers and in danger of capture, he built out of loose boards a 
raft and found refuge on the ocean. Afloat on the Gulf stream, 
he w^as picked up by a vessel and brought to New^ York, wdiere he 
landed a stranger, unable to speak the English language. His 



302 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

exposure brought on pneumonia, and he was carried to a Brooklyn 
hospital. A Christian lady came daily to visit him. She could 
not talk Spanish ; he could not read English. She prayed ; God 
understood both languages, and the Holy Spirit illumined his soul. 
A Spanish Bible was procured. He read the story of Bartimeus, 
and said : " That is like me. " Jesus was there ; he could not see 
him. He is here, but I cannot see him. He prayed for spiritual 
sight and received it. Some obedient disciples immersed by Dr. 
MacArthur caused him to follow Christ. Bible women sent him 
to Cuba. He told his household of Christ. His wife and father 
came, but the mother stood out. They continued in prayer for her. 
At last she found peace in believing and came for baptism. He 
saw her coming into the house, and knew not that she had found de- 
liverance. He was retiring from her, afraid of a scene, when she 
cried out, " My son, I want baptism. " His joy cannot be described. 
He went down into the watery grave, leading the mother who bore 
him and loved him and \vhom he loved. He forgot the formu- 
la of baptism. All he could say was "Jesus, this is my mother." 

Since then, well on to 10,000 have asked baptism. Persecution is 
the priests' remedy. For distributing Bibles, Diaz was acccused of 
interfering with political matters and thrown into prison. From 
his cell he preached to his fellow prisoners, as did Paul before him. 
In Havana the people are casting their idols and saints into the 
street. Excommunication followed persecution. Opposition but 
fanned the flame. The dead were refused burial because they died 
in Christ. He purchased a large tra6t of land for a cemetery, and 
it has become the thing to bury in it. The bishop remonstrates, 
but in vain. The fields in Cuba are white for the harvest. So 
they are in Brazil and in Mexico. 

In a late letter, Mr. Diaz says : "We had last year 1,448 pupils 
in our Sunday schools, and in the present year we have 2,914. 
Think of that — 1,466 more children in the Sunday school than last 
year. 

" Our tent is far too small to hold this people, and so I am glad of 
the prospect and earnestly desire the board to take possession at 
once of this theatre, where we can congregate our Baptist people 
of Havana. 

"I have just returned today from Las Puentes, where our church 



IS ROMANISM CIIRISTIAXITY. 303 

there celebrated the Christmas tree. The auditory was immense. 
The Sunday school numbers about seventy-five pupils. I had a 
pleasant time in seeing those ahildren and teachers. This is the 
first year they have had a Sunday school celebratio)i. 

'' Brother O'Halloran asked me for some cloth for his table, and 
I gave him an American flag that I had. They placed it there ^ 
and, after the Sunday school was dismissed, the people passed by 
and kissed the American flag w^ith profound respect. An old man, 
eightv years old, came, all trembling, and raising up the flag, 
pointed out and counted the stars and said, with a feeble voice : 
'It is not complete. It needs another star, and that is Cuba.*" 
By this incident you may form some idea of how the Cuban people 
love Americans. 

''You cannot imagine how anxious our people here are to get 
the theatre where our church can meet. We all have a stroncr 

o 

conviction that as soon as we have that place the city of Havana 
will become Baptist. 

"We are awaiting the first of February, like old Simeon was 
aw^aiting the Saviour. We have been praying the Lord to induce 
our liberal Baptist people of the States to send their money to buy 
at once this place, that Cuba may be for Christ. Amen. " 

There is nothing too hard for God. You have seen the flower 
blooming on the slopes of the Alps. The ray of sunshine pene- 
trated the crevice, warmed the earth, burst the seed and caused it 
to bud and blossom. The word of God is the power of God unto 
salvation, here and everyw^here. A New Testament led Diaz to 
Christ. What may it not do here for the lost ? A Frenchman re- 
ceived a Bible. His wife, a Roman Catholic, fought him. He 
prayed on, and read the word of God aloud in his home. The seed 
took root. One night the woman awakened her husband, saying, 
"Pray for me ; I am sinking to hell." Up they got and prayed ; she 
welcomed Christ and was saved, and he went out through the town 
at 4 a. m., arousing his friends to say "My wife is redeemed." 

A supposed corpse was shipped from St. Louis to Chicago. 
On the train the expressman thought he heard a cry from the coflin, 
but did not open it, and the man died. Today there are seven millions 
of souls in bodies shipped by the church of Rome to perdition. 
Some of them are cryino^ out. Go to them in love. Go to them 



304 IS ROMANISM CHRISTIANITY. 

in hope. Preach the gospel to them. Undeceive them. Help 
them with Bibles, with kindly welcomes, with generous love, and 
by these means win victories for Jesus which shall stud your crowns 
with stars of rejoicing, casting which at Jesus' feet we shall crown 
him Lord of all. The work performed will greet you in heaven and 
bless the world, for by their fruits the redeemed shall be know^n. 



IMPERILED HOMES. 



"Behold, I set before vou the wav of Hfe and the way of death." 
Jer. 21 : 8. 

Romanism is a colossal fact, threatening the American home. 
Imperiled homes are all about us. The trouble is, imperiled homes 
are close beside many of us. Some are in them. With many the 
dream of happiness is vanished. The hope of happiness at home is 
gone. Never can I forget the man whose wife is intimate with the 
priest and is dead to her husband. He is without a home and in 
Rome without a remedy. Homes are imperiled by w4iat is done in 
them, and by what is left undone. Homes are destroyed by neglect. 
Homes are built up only by sacrifice, by care, by consecration. In 
homes, as elsewhere, there are sins of commission and of omission. 
Two ways open before every household — a way of life and a way 
of death. No family is so poor as to be compelled to confess that 
they had but one way. They all had two. Thev mav have neg- 
lected one and accepted the other, but they had them both. No one 
can walk in both ways. A good many try to do it and fail. A 
choice must be made. This is true, because what God said to Israel 
he says to all : "See, I have set before thee this dav life and good 
and death and evil." Strange, life should be placed before good and 
death before evil. The moralist would place good first and life sec- 
ond, or evil first and death second. That would be wrong. Life 
in Christ is the seedling; good is the fruit. "For out of the heart 
proceed evil thoughts" or good thoughts. It depends upon the con- 
dition of the heart. 

This is true of homes. It is the character that determines the 
conduct, the life that declares what the fruit shall be. The possi- 
bility of a happy home is within reach of all. "Stop right there," 
says someone. "You don't know what I have at home." True, and 
there is one more thing I don't know — I don't know what you are 
at home. A man made himself immortal because, when a homeless 
wanderer, he wrote : 

305 



306 IMPERILED HOMES. 

"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home ! " 

That is good poetry, but to millions it is a mockery and a sham. 
To them there is no place out of hell where they would be more 
miserable ; no place where they are less respedled and beloved ; no 
place where the "might have beens" are so thickly written, and 
where attainment of happiness seems so beyond the reach. 

Wealth does not make a happy home. There are men worth 
millions who are more miserable, in their splendid homes, than the 
poorest sewing woman in her garret, singing "The Song of the 
Shirt." Think of a man, worth millions, mad at his French cook, 
mad at his servants, going to one of the best hotels and ordering a 
splendid dinner, and again, maddened at the service, flying into a 
passion and dying in a rage. Happiness is within, not without. It 
is "life and good." 

All remember the poor fellow who enlisted in the army. They 
came to him and asked, "You enlisted?" "Yes." "As a com- 
mon soldier?" "Yes." "What will become of your family?" 
"M}^ family will be better off without than with me," and he told 
the truth. Think of the wives and children trembling because in a 
few days the door of the prison will swing open to husband and 
father, and when he crosses the threshold there comes a brute, a 
demon, of whom all stand in fear. God planned the home for hap- 
piness, for thrift, for the promotion of every good. He gave the 
husband the headship and proclaimed the principles of home rule. 
Against this, millions war. The wife rebels at the thought of 
obedience ; the husband becomes careless of his position and the 
duties incident thereto ; the machinery gets out of order ; cogs are 
broken in the wheel ; there is a jar — perhaps a conflict, followed by 
a wreck. There are moments in every history when this truth ap- 
pears. The tendrils of affecftion are wounded. They bleed. Prov- 
ocation has been given which alienates and severs. There is the way 
of death. Enter it and continue in it, and your doom is fixed. It 
is possible to find an excuse that seems rational for the conducl. 

There is not a home inta6t at this hour that might not have been 
broken. Its urn of hope might have been shattered. Its happiness 
might forever have been destroyed. Why is it a strong tower into 
which its occupants may run and find shelter from the storm and 



IMPERILED HOMES. 307 

tempest? Why is there love in the heart, kindness in the life, and 
joys with which a stranger may not intermeddle ? VVe answer : Be- 
cause you chose to ignore self, with its rights unquestioned, and to 
hold all in abeyance for the general goo !. Self-abnegation is the 
tap-root from which the tree of kindness, of generosity, of nobility, 
of true greatness, springs. 

Why is another home a ruin ? There are abundance of excuses ; 
listen to them : one is frail, temper quick, judgment poor, ability 
not the best ; and the other, holding the scales, as if any one was 
equal to that task, condemns in the companion the veiy thing al- 
lowed, tolerated and defended in self. There is no fairness, no 
patience ; and so two immortal beings, with an opportunity to be a 
blessing, become to themselves a curse and to the world a nuisance. 

I, Ho7nes are iinperiled by a separation from God's plan. 
Here uoe reach bed rock, 

"The head of the w^oman is, the man." (I Cor. 1 1 : 3.) Roman- 
ism declares the head of the woman is the confessor. Christ said : 
"Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made 
them male and female, and said. For this cause shall a man leave 
father and mother and shall cleave to his wife ; and they twain shall 
be one flesh ? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. 
What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." 
(Matt. 19 : 4-6.) That is God's plan. Mormonism sets it aside and 
battles for polygamous marriages. The one wife is forsaken for 
some other woman. The home is broken up ; God's law is violated, 
and misery ensues.. 

It is said the self-poised condor can behold two streams v^hich 
divide a continent, taking their rise at a single fountain, pushing 
down different sides of the mountain and passing to distant seas. 
It is doubtful if there be such a fountain. A fountain is the parent 
of one stream, not of two. In every home is a fountain. The 
stream takes its chara6leristics from it. The choice determines 
destiny. Life and happiness are the counterparts of each other, and 
so are death and misery. 

Mormonism imperils our homes — not because of what it is doing 
in Utah, but because the error is tolerated here. In New York it 
is possible for a man to live with a half dozen wives, pioviding he 
marries them in different states. A man is living in the city of New 



308 IMPERILED HOMES. 

York with two sisters. One was married to him in New^ York and 
the other in New Jersey. Both are with him in New York, for 
Mormon ism m fact finds a welcome, though not in name. 

The same want of fidelity to God's plan is seen in the w^ay wives 
fail to cling to husbands and husbands turn from the wives they 
took and promised to cherish to wives of others whom they covet. 
"Dress that woman, while I go for a doctor," cries the adulterous 
paramour, as the w^oman grows black in the face and is struck with 
death in the midst of sin, because God's law is trampled on. 

To the wail of sorrow now heard w^e are not accLirtomed, 
Go where ]Mormonism rules, and it is everywhere filling the air. 
The sorrow of broken-hearted wives, the degradation and debase- 
ment of adulterous men, are terrible to contemplate. What will 
the American people do for the imperiled home at the heart of the 
continent? Look nearer home. This brings us back to the truth, 
and compels us to say in this presence : 

2. Homes are iiJiperiled "jcheii the i?z?nates choose the bad in 
prefei'ejice to the good. 

It is what a man or woman is within that determines what he or 
she is without. Belief infiuences condu6l. When we called at- 
tention to the fact that a million of women and more than a million 
of little girls are asked questions by over one hundred thousand 
priests which if taken upon the lips of any evangelical minister in 
the presence of w^ife or daughter would excite the indignation of 
the community and cause the perpetrator of the outrage to be branded 
with an ineffaceable mark of condemnation, we created widespread 
alarm. In the book we have proven this, as far as it is possible to 
do so and not incur peril for publishing literature that is obscene. 
Now we go farther, and say that it is the duty of law-makers, the 
guardians of a great public trust, to call before them books and per- 
sons and find out if the truth has been stated. If so, then some- 
thing must be done about it, or we surrender the homes of millions 
to polluting and degrading influences. 

There are difficulties in the way of grappling with this question. 
It is the theory that toleration, freedom of conscience and religious 
liberty compel us to consent to people's going the wrong way as 
readily as we would to their going the right way. That may be 
true, if we have set before them the right way. But if we permit 



IMPERILED HOMES. 309 

them to go wrong and know of it and do not warn them, we become 
guilty of destroying those whom we might have saved, and bring 
their blood upon us. Romanism in auricular confession imperils 
the home. "Auricular confession is the chief and most potent appli- 
an(.e by which the church of Rome gains ascendency and retains 
suj.ireme control over individual minds and bodies. Without it 
Rome were a powerless mechanism, a huge, inert mass deprived of 
its motive power and ruling energy. Take away the key-stone of 
the arch that supports the gorgeous structure, and the whole edi- 
fice, with all its architectural strength and magnificence, will crum- 
ble into ruins. It is the grand secret of her success ; the mystery of 
that tenacious fortitude with which she has endured the countless 
attacks that have threatened her stability ; the sovereign remedy that 
heals the wounds inflidled by her assailants, counteracts the efiedls 
of inward disease and repairs the ravages of success in reforms and 
vast numerical losses." (The Escaped Novice, by Miss J. M. Bunk- 
ley, p. 25.) "Superficial observers ascribe the power and the in- 
fluence she exerts to the charm of her ostentatious ceremonies 
and her imposing ritual, to the theatrical display and sensual ap- 
peal of her worship. These are, indeed, agencies that at first at- 
tract, but it is the revealments of the confessional that retain. The 
robes, the crucifix, the pictures, the incense, the mass, the invoca- 
tion of saints, the thousand and one engaging rites, make up, in- 
deed, an attractive image, apparently possessed of vitality and 
vigor; but confession, as it were, completes the galvanic circle that 
keeps the form erec5t and active. Detach diis, and the figure falls, 
a pale, corrupting corpse, to the ground." "Through its agency the 
hidden thoughts and tendencies of the mind, the disposition, the 
temper, the temptations, the weaknesses, of ever}' penitent are laid 
bare to the inspection of the priest, who may then direct and 
mould them at his will. Is there a Catholic in the cabinet, what 
state secret remains unknown to the confessor? Happy, it may be, 
are those who in their ignorance are unconscious of this far-reach- 
ing influence, for communities and nations would tremble, could 
they but realize the dangers to wdiich they are exposed through the 
power of the Romish confessional." (Ibid., p. 27.) 

Auricular confession imperils the home, not alone because of the 
polluting questions it is possible to ask and the terrible life that re- 



3IO IMPERILED HOMES. 

«ults from such seed-sowing, but because a priest ascertains through 
the confessional what he has no right to know or ask about or think 
of. The momsut a confessor is permitted to take the husband's 
place the home is invaded. Christians know not how great their 
obligations are, because, though there may be ministers who are 
faulty and so-called Christian women who are frail, Society is a 
unit in condemning both, and in casting the one out of the pulpit 
while it banishes the other from social regard. In the evangelical 
world there is but little ground of complaint. In the Roman Cath- 
olic world, the extent of this sin is beyond belief and beyond de- 
scription. Roman Catholics know it. Roman Catholics ought to 
fight it. They must do so or sink into the mire. 

The priest claims that he stands in the stead of God, and that he 
is there because Christ gave him, through Peter and the apostles, all 
power from God. That is a lie. Peter and the apostles never re- 
ceived such power from Christ. They never assumed to do what 
priests are doing now. They were respectable men and lived holy 
lives, or they would not be what now they are. The priest claims 
the right to ask polluting questions, and also claims that he may 
violate his vows of chastity with impunity, while the penitent, 
by obedience, commits no sin in yielding to his desire. '''-He may 
err^ but she will do right in yielding'^ ( The Escaped Novice, 
p. 6i). It does not require argument to prove that women thus 
manipulated and questioned are demoralized, that demoralization 
w^orks injury in the home, and that husbands thus set aside will have 
revenge. If a priest may enjoy a man's wife, he may enjoy some- 
body's else wife ; and so w^here Romanism has rule prostitution 
abounds, and prostitutes are shielded from prosecution and licensed 
to practice wrong-doing for gain, providing they divide with the 
•church, as rum shops are tolerated by Rome because of the weekly 
stipend paid to the nuns. 

In the name of millions of helpless men and women, we protest 
against this intrusion. It is not religion ; it is the perversion of re- 
ligion. It is not the result of the teachings of the gospel. A carnal 
nature, devil-inhabited, causes it, and men and women succumb to 
it because they either know^ not or will not walk in the good way. 

J. The character of the education furnished in Roman 
Catholic institutions imperils the homes. 



IMPERILED HOMES. 3 II 

The training in convents must harmonize with the genius and 
spirit of the institution which is dire6lly in opposition to the idea 
of an American home. It is not enough to say that the education 
of convents is poor. It is pernicious. It makes Httle of the house- 
wife and much of the nun ; little of the home, much of the cloister. 
Culture of intellect can be obtained from ascetic books and lives of 
the saints, which speak of the felicity of the monastic life and the 
horrors of the world. The claim is put forth that salvation outside 
of the cloister is almost impossible ; and, as a result, many a mother 
is horrified by the return of the graduate to the cloister, where, hav- 
ing taken the black veil, she is given up to a life now of sorrow, 
now of shame, and w^hich ends in death to hope. It is a maxim in 
Rome, "Do you want a faithless woman, marry a girl brought up 
in a convent." The confessor is the head of the home. Domestic 
life is extinguished, and the child heart is slain. 

Proselytmg is the business in convents. From the enthroned 
vice-God in Rome to the humblest lay member cringing at the feet 
of the priest, all seek to capture the unwary. Suffering is believed 
to secure salvation and lighten the pains of purgatory, hence novices 
and nuns alike endure indescribable hardships in the expedlation of 
securing spiritual gain ; while the word of God teaches us to cast. 
our cares on Jesus, who invites the weary and heavy laden to ap- 
proach him and find rest and peace. All this is shut out, because 
the Bible is excluded from the convent. They have no use for it. 
"During my residence in the nunnery at Emmitsburg, Md.," says 
Miss Bunkley, "I never saw a Bible, though I had frequent access 
to the library." 

Homes are impei'iled becaitse women turji from them to every 
other kind of occupation. So long as household work is thought 
to be degrading, there never can be anything like universal educa- 
tion ; there must always be some wiio work all their lives, because 
others will not work at all. Americans are to teach the world how 
to build up homes and develop the best characteristics of home life. 
To do this, all classes must engage in the work. Could this be done^ 
thousands of young men now wifeless and homeless would find it in 
their power to realize the dream of a happy life and become the head 
of a pleasant home. 

The conjugal union, judiciously formed, is invaluable to man and 



312 IMPERILED HOMES. 

almost indispensable to woman. Her organization pre-eminently 
qualifies her for its conditions and relations. Whatever the mental 
and |Dersonal charms of a female may be, the true excellence of her 
character can never be seen nor appreciated except in the practice 
of the amiable virtues which constitute the wife and mother. For 
man and for woman the natural regulator of the animal passions is 
marriage. This, God teaches ; this, woman knows and feels ; yet, 
notwithstanding, the Catholic church has the unpardonable pre- 
sumption to pronounce a curse upon her, if she prefer a union so 
essential to her happiness and usefulness to a state of perpetual 
virginity. The vow of perpetual chastity with priests and nuns is 
iDroken, as a rule, and if it be ever kept it is as an exception. Every 
true woman longs for a home, and desires to be the good wife of a 
loving husband. Rome says, Let her be accursed. Nothing is sad- 
der than to see beautiful girls captured by priests and carried oft' to 
nunneries and convents, where, induced by passion, the black veil is 
taken, when they are delivered over to priests, who do not yield them 
a pure love, but compel them to minister to base desires. Contrast 
with this the heart love of a wife, which is indestructible, because of 
which she is to be envied, because she reigns supreme in one manly 
heart and can sing : 

"Sail east, sail west, dear wanderer; ^ 

God cares for you and cares for me ; 

He knows for which of us 'twas best 
To stay w^ith children round the knee." 

For she is the happiest woman who sees the sun rise and set in 
the faces of her loved ones. 

4.. Dissatisfa6tion with the God-assigned positioit of ivoinan 
iinperils the home. 

The boarding-house is taking the place of the old-fashioned house- 
hold. Young women compelled to labor prefer the fadiory and the 
store to the discharge of duties which, properly mastered, would 
make them helpmeets to worthy men and partners in promoting the 
interests of the family. The result is that men are not only losing 
good wives, but women are parting with that virtue which is their 
crown and glory. In one of our cities, it became a grave question 
what was to be done to save the shop girls from utter ruin. The 
remedy is difficult to find, outside the home. 



IMPERILED HOMES. 313 

In France, men and women who toil together Hve indiscriminately 
as fancy may direct. As a result, womanhood loses its glory. 
There is not even a shocking or humiliating idea attached to their 
sexual improprieties. The woman who has only one lover declares 
she is not a coquette. The woman who has more than one lover 
sa3-s she is only a coquette. There, where fortunes are small, mar- 
riages are more frequent than "svith us ; yet they have their limits, 
and only take place between persons who can together make up 
sufficient income to live on and support a flimiiy. A vast variety 
of single ladies without fortune still remains ; these are usually guilty 
of the indiscretion of a lover, even though they have no husband to 
deceive. This is under the wing of Romanism. There they take 
unto themselves an affection to which they remain tolerably faithful, 
as long as it is understood the liaison continues. The quiet young 
banker, stock broker and lawyer live, until they are rich enough to 
marry, in some connection of this description. They do what the 
priests do. The immoralities of the confessional pervade the life at 
home. The priest cannot condemn the left-handed m.arriage of the 
banker while he is guilty of a w^orse sin. Is America exempt from 
this terrible curse? Sanctioned by the approval of the priesthood, 
these adulteries obtain a certain respectability which makes them a 
peril to society and an offense to morality. The working classes 
have their marriages of form, though not of fact. They live to- 
gether as man and v^ife during a period mutually satisfaclory. The 
result is general demoralization. 

In the Roman Catholic districts this standard of a pseudo-morality 
prevails. That which is of the flesh is flesh. Romanism condones 
wrong-doing because its leaders practice it. Is it not time attention 
was called to this state of society? The book '"Why Priests Should 
Wed" opens up so much of this subject as is prudent. Let our law- 
makers take it in hand and see if the peril exists, and if they find it 
let them fight, for the sake not only of Roman Catholics but of 
public morality. 

Co7tformity to foreign caprices imperils our home life. The 
behests of fashion are little short of tyranny. Could there be a 
movement among the ladies of fashion and influence to discard a 
foreign sceptre and to avow a purpose to be and to live in harmony 
with the highest and best interests of society, we might grow an 



314 IMPERILED HOMES. 

American womanhood that would be the praise of the w^hole world. 
But the majority consent to be imitators, so that w4ien the dancing 
girl in the Garden Mabile alters the shape of her bonnet or the length 
of the heel of her shoe, thousands obey the pompous behest of 
fashion, and refuse to be pattern-makers. 

No man of sense is indifferent to neatness and beauty of attire. 
A well-dressed woman is a power. She knows it, and the world 
recognizes the truth. But there is something nobler and grander 
for the women of America than this devotion of eneigy and conse- 
cration of time to an object so utterly beneath the regard of an im- 
mortal and cultured intellecl. Somewhere in this country a senti- 
ment should be organized which shall grow a woman as God de- 
signed her to be. Our girls are beautiful in appearance, delicate in 
form and, as a rule, cultured and refined. Why should they be 
compelled to exchange beauty for ugliness at the behest of foreign 
masters under the rule of principles so demoralizing and debasing 
as distinguish priest-ruled Paris? 

5. Wonzajz true to Christ is glorified. 

Honors await woman when she consecrates herself to the service 
of humanity in accordance with the teachings of Christ. Roman- 
ists teach women to immure themselves in convents and nunneries, 
to resist marriage and to fight home life, that they may be saved. 
Spell it dafnnedl Christ saves w^oman and bids her go forth a 
blessing to cheer the world with love light, with kindness, with an- 
gelic ministries. Rome destroys womanhood and wrecks the homes. 

No one can read of the marvels wrought by woman, of the schools 
established, hospitals founded and of the work wrought for them 
and in them, without being impressed with the fact that there are 
wide realms yet untrodden waiting for the diligent and the true. 

The medical profession invites woman to study its truths and 
ponder its mysteries, that she may better understand the mechan- 
ism of her own wonderful nature and be able to minister to the wants 
of those placed beneath her care. The women of Israel in the days 
of Moses were in advance of the women of our time in medical 
knowledge. 

American v^omen have inaugurated movements which are benef- 
icent and praiseworthy. No one can recall woman's work for temper- 
ance without being astonished at her capacity to help. Let her not 



IMPERILED HOMES. 315 

stop. There is need of woman's work for women. It is said that 
our retail liquor stores obtain their trade very largely from those 
who enter at the family door. In educational enterprises there is a 
vast field opened to woman. In the east she goes where man can- 
not go, and does what man cannot do. 

Could w^e raise in our communities a womanhood that would exult 
in manly work and help it on, we should see called into exercise the 
divine charities of the gospel and those graces which shed a lustre 
upon society. It is because of this need that the best friends of 
women shrink from the thought of having them attempt work which 
belongs to men. The only way devised by some to help woman is 
to destroy all in which she differs from man. The mistake is terri- 
ble in design and terrific in results. Woman in her true sphere is 
the support, the confidant, the counsellor, the helper of man in the 
battle of life. She is his solace and joy when he feels his need of 
help. 

"When man's words of eloquence 

Inspire and rouse a nation. 
There breathes through them the undertone 

Of woman's inspiration. 

''And whether hers are holy words 

That nei^i^e to fiery trial, 
Or only meek and lowly deeds 

Of love and self-denial, 

"In tones so clear, so true, so sweet, 

They ring the wide world over ; 
She speaks from out her heart to ours. 

And men and angels love her." 

— Phoebe Gary. 

The old-fashioned idea of woman was derived from the teachings- 
of the w^ord of God. Until French customs brought coarseness and 
grossness into her life, she was courted as a friend and loved as a 
helpmeet. 

It was the wonderful insight of the Greeks that laid the founda- 
tions of political and philosophical literature. From the Romans 
we derived the idea of the supremacy of law ; from Palestine the 
thought of a great brotherhood. Let it be ours to create a home life 
that shall redound to the world's advantage. 



3l6 IMPERILED HOMES. 

6. The 7ieed of Ckristly ho77tes zvas 7iever greater. 

The religion of Jesus Christ must be permitted to permeate with 
its influence the masses of the community. It cannot be carried 
over the women. They must help. Whatever is accomplished 
must be achieved through their aid. From the home must come 
the power which shall frown down the tampering with the educa- 
tion of the young, and this move is next in order. Woman in the 
home, if she be a true woman, can shut the priest out and give a 
welcome to the Christ w^ithin. No matter though Romish servants 
occupy the kitchen, they cannot rule the household unless the mis- 
tress of the house consents. Royal, old-fashioned home life is a 
possibility — a home in wdiich the man finds his happiness in toiling 
for those he loves, and in which the woman keeps the house so that it 
can be his castle because it is to his heart a home. Millions at this 
hour are literally strangers to any just conception of what God has 
for the people to do in this direction. This may become the land of 
homes in which "a charm from the skies shall hallow us there, 
w^hich, if sought through the world, is ne'er met with elsewdiere." 

The help of each and all is 7teedful. It is when each man, 
woman and child feels that the honor, the power and the prosjDerity 
of the home are committed to himself or herself, individually, that the 
home is sure to be built up and its influence for good to become a 
felt power in the v^orld. A wrecked home, an impoverished home, 
comes not because of the loss of property but because of the loss of 
love. 

Ii*ving's old story of the wife is as beautiful and as true as when 
first written. Women are all around us who have bound the tendrils 
of their love about some strong support and held homes together when 
otherwise they would have fallen apart. Such minister to the neces- 
sities of life, and identify themselves with God's great work in the 
world. 

Standing here and remembering how Christians have been divided 
from Roman Catholics in jDurpose and in work, I am reminded of 
the scene enabled on the banks of the Rappahannock, on a Sabbath 
evening near the close of the war. One band struck up and played 
The Stars and Stripes, the other played Dixie ; one Hail Columbia, 
the other The Bonny Blue Flag. Finally, one played a church tune, 
and on the opposite side of the stream they joined in the notes of 



IMPERILED HOMES. 317 

praise. At last our bands played Home, Sweet Home ; the Con- 
federate bands did the same, when bluebacks and graybacks climbed 
cannons and fortifications, and, with hats off', gave unitedly three 
cheers for home. Roman Catholics, join with us in building Ameri- 
■can homes in America which shall glorify God and bless the world. 




BISIVIARCK. 

BORN APRIL I, 1 8 13. 



BISMARCK; HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 



' 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the un- 
godly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of 
the scornful ; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his 
law doth he meditate day and night." Ps. 1:1,2. 

A weird, wonderful and almost inexplicable human character is 
passing from human view. The work remains. It is so high, so 
deep, so far-reaching in results, so terrific in plan, that the more you 
study it the more are you surprised at what God can do with and 
by a man, as well as what the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ can do 
for a man. 

Jesus Christ, in his life and teachings, furnishes the only true 
standard for measuring human character. What he likes, lives. 
What he rejects, dies. He that humbles himself is exalted, if the 
humiliation be for Christ, and be in the service of humanity. He 
that exalts himself, thinks of himself, at the expense of a cause, is a 
failure, now and forever. The story of Bismarck's life is crowded 
with lessons so tragic, so comic, so grand and so mysterious that 
fi(5lion is eclipsed by fa6l. Volumes have been written in which 
attempts have been made to set forth the truth concerning the man. 
Let them be read. Let the truth be pondered. There is much in 
them to instruct, much to sadden as well as to inspire. Perhaps, 
more than any man of our time, he will stand as the riddle of his- 
tory. 

Greater than a king, greater than a country, he has not only been 
the foremost man in Europe, but the foremost man in the world. 
Dynasties come and dynasties go ; great men appear and combat 
him, retire and disappear ; and this man, who stepped forth from ob- 
scurity panoplied and equipped for the battle, and laid his hand 
upon the throat of principalities and powers and compelled them to 
help maintain the interests entrusted to his care at peril of their 
lives, is now, after the death of the great emperor and his greater 
son, on whom the whole world built in hope, holding the co- 

319 



320 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AXD UNDOINGS. 

lossal power steady, that Germany, in the hands of a man who may 
be smitten with an incurable disease in an hour, may fulfil its mis- 
sion. 

At the time of his birth. Napoleon I had just returned h'om 
Elba to Paris, and Louis Napoleon was a lad of seven years. The 
echoes of the guns of Waterloo sounded about his cradle, thrilled 
the heart of his mother and caused her to consecrate her child to the 
sendee of the fatherland. A monarchist by education and convic- 
tion from his youth up, he has believed in the future of Prussia, 
whose history carries us back to 320 B. C, when the PhcBnicians 
procured of that Lithuanian tribe amber on the shore of the Baltic 
sea. The name is derived from Po-Russi, behind the Russ, a part 
of the Memel. The Teutonic knights conquered them in i283(?), 
founded cities, introduced German colonists and laws, and, by their 
firm but liberal rule, made her one of the most flourishing countries 
of the time. After a troublous period extending from 1450 to 1511, 
Albert the margrave of Brandenburg was elected grand master of 
the order. Luther was beginning to rise in his might for the Bible 
and the liberty born therefrom. Albert of Brandenburg became his 
coadjutor, introducing to his people new ideas, new hopes and a 
grand destiny. 

The second half of the sixteenth centur\' has been called the golden 
and classic age of German culture. The imperial crown was re- 
garded as the collective property of the princes and estates, in whom 
the power of disj30sing of that dignity was vested. Each dukedom 
or kingdom was hedged in by laws and institutions peculiar to itself, 
and over them all ruled an emperor, elected not by the people but 
bv the rulers of the people. Should he upon whom the dignity 
was conferred make use of the power with which it endowed him 
to increase the might of his own house, each individual prince felt 
himself fully justified in resistance. 

It was because Austria tried to retain this power, which had 
given her supreme control over Prussia and the other German 
states, that the thirty years' war had its origin, during which Prussia 
maintained a neutrality, and was ravaged by contending armies and 
by the warring kingdoms of Sweden and Poland. From the lowest 
dejDths of degradation, the country was raised by the energy and 
wisdom of Frederick William, the great elector, who reigned from. 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 32 1 

1640 to 1688. Frederick William, the third ele6lor, reigned from 
1688 to 1 713. By consent of the emperor he assumed the title of 
king in Prussia. 

Frederick William I reigned from 1 713 to 1 740. He was noted for 
his professed piety and terrible brutality to his son Frederick, known 
as Frederick the Great, who reigned from 1740 to 1786 and won the 
title of king of Prussia. He annexed Silesia and a part of Poland, 
and left to his successor $50,000,000, an army of 220,000 men and 
an area of territory of 77,000 square miles. Frederick William II 
reigned from 1786 to 1797? ^^^ added 400,000 square miles. Fred- 
erick William III, father of the late Emperor William, reigned from 
1 797 to 1840, encountered the wrath of Napoleon, lost half of his ter- 
ritory, saw the overthrow of Europe's master, and regained possession 
of the territory which had been taken from him. Frederick William 
IV reigned from 1840 to 1 861. He was a man of great natural 
talents and scholarship, but weak, pusillanimous and vindiftive. He 
threw away the opportunity offered him in 1849 of becoming the 
head of a united German nation. For years, under his reign, the 
readlionary party of the country wielded a despotic power almost 
oriental. In 1857 ^^^ mental faculties gave way, and the opportu- 
nity for his brother arrived. Up to the time of his brother's death, 
Jan. 2, 186 1 , William was entrusted with the regency. He was born 
March 22, 1797; married, June 11, 1829, Mary Louisa Augusta 
Catherine of Saxe- Weimar ; and October 18, 1861, refusing to rec- 
ognize dukedoms or people, claiming that God made him king, he 
crowned himself in presence of his nobles. His eldest son was 
Frederick William Nicholas Chailes, born 06lober 18, 1831, and 
married January 25, 1858, to Victoria, princess royal of Great 
Britain. In private life the emperor was exemplary. He wor- 
shiped his mother Louisa, noted for her love of husband and chil- 
dren. She was the one woman Napoleon could not subdue. Her son 
was taught in his youth to love God and fatherland. It was his 
glory that he lived for the people and lived in them. He had 
been from his childhood a champion for Orthodox Christianity. 
Luther was not more devoted to the Bible nor more brave in its de- 
fense. 

It is a fact that should encourage parents to see to it that their chil- 
dren are rooted and grounded in their love for the word of God. 



322 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

The lessons learned by William in Pomerania when banished frdm 
Berlin remained. Bismarck delights to call attention to the striking 
contrasts in the lives of Emperor William and his father. He was 
humbled into the very dust, his capital captured, his palace plun- 
dered and his family sent into exile by Napoleon I. The other 
broke the power of Napoleon III, drove him from his capital and 
sent him and his into a life-long exile. One cannot think of Em- 
peror William riding through Paris at the head of a victorious 
army, w^ithout going back in imagination to 1806, when, with his 
brave mother, he I'ode through the Pomeranian forests in search of 
a shelter and a home. 

It is said that the father of Hannibal led his youthful son into 
the temple at Carthage, up to the high altar on which lay an ox 
just slain, whose hot blood still coursed in his veins and throbbed in 
his beating heart. The father took the hands of the boy, placed 
them in the hot blood, and then caused him to lift them to heaven 
and swear eternal hostility to Rome. That early oath fashioned the 
life of the man. 

In fancy we pi6lure Louisa and her boys, as tidings came to 
them of Napoleon's reveling in their palace at Berlin, sendmg 
off to Paris the sword and clock of the great Frederick, and disman- 
tling the capital of Prussia of its trophies of art that he might 
adorn with them the capital of France. Nine years later, in Schon- 
hausen, a boy w^as born who was to do for the younger son what 
Hardenberg and Von Stein did for his father. 

Otto Edward Leopold Bismarck was born at Schonhausen April i , 
181 5. He comes from a noble Prussian family whose origin 
carries us back to that early period in the life of Germany when 
the twilight of superstition blends v^ith the serener light of history. 
Two of his family were members of the cabinet of the Great Fred- 
erick. Handsome in feature, well formed in person, of great courage 
and of an iron constitution, he revealed immense power as a student 
and graduated with high honor. He acquires languages without 
difficulty, converses readily in every language of Europe and is 
a perfedl master of the English tongue. 

In 1836, Bismarck left the department of justice for that of admin- 
istration, and studied diplomacy in Belgium, Paris and London. He 
tired of travel and went back to his estates. There was not much 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 323 

in his youth that gave promise of the marvelous life he was to live 
in the world. He was wild, desperate and wayward, a compound 
of audacity and craft, of candor and cunning. So long as poverty 
held him in its grip he did well, but with competence came dissi- 
pation, and mad Bismarck became the terror of the region. It was- 
then he fell in love. It is a familiar phrase, but the language de- 
scribes the occurrence. He fell in love with Miss Von Putt Kom- 
mer, and Miss Von Putt Kommer fell in love with him. Like two 
dew-drops shaken by a single breath, they slipped gently down and 
became one. Then books in parcels and in boxes began to come to 
his home. He read and worked and wrought. Like Saul of Tar- 
sus, he was converted. The desperate leader became the Paul of 
the apostolate. He read history, philosophy, theology. Married 
July 38, 1847, ^^^ "^^^ henceforth distinguished for his studious 
habits and for the religious trend of his life. He was elected a mem- 
ber of the diet the same year. 

Liberalism was in the air. Those who expe6l to see him side 
with the revolutionists, like Mazzini and others, will be disap- 
pointed. The key that unlocks his character is the facl that he be- 
lieves in and has worked for German unity and German ascendency^ 
What would help, he has used ; what would hinder, he has opposed. 
That stinging tongue, arrogant intelledl and ruthless will make 
this typical German, the war man ; and this man of Titanic 
force is yet a gentle, genial, human-hearted man, witty, winning, 
loving, the idol of his home and the pride of his household. His 
His king was his king. The nobility welcomed him. 

Wonderfully diplomacy had fitted him for his position. Bismarck 
knew every monarch in Europe. They knew that he was ready to 
w^oo or to fight as the necessity might require. The work achieved 
can only be glanced at. When he became the champion of the pol- 
icy which made Prussia great, he found himself opposed by the peo- 
ple and by the diet. He began at once to make the army what it 
should be. He was helped by Prince Carl, Von Moltke and others. 
They were there before, and the army was weak. Bismarck came, 
and the army was powerful, and soon stood forth the mightiest force 
in Europe. How the people opposed him has become history. In 
his first speech he said : ' 'As long as we choose to wear heavy armor 
we must not fail to make use of it. The problems of the time will 



324 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

be solved not by speeches and resolutions hut by Mood and steels 
This was a new do6lrine. Today the world understands it. He 
increased and drilled the army. Austria sought a German con- 
federation at the expense of Prussia. The one man in the way was 
Bismarck. Once when some one was severely criticizing the Prus- 
sian minister to Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria, the great, clear- 
sighted ruler replied : "Ah, if I but had him ! " He felt this after 
Sadowa as never before. 

Nothing succeeds like success. When Napoleon escaped from 
Elba, in 1815, the Paris Moniteur thus reported his progress day by 
day: "The anthropophagi st has escaped. The Corsican ogre has 
landed. The tiger is coming. The monster has slept at Grenoble. 
The tyrant has arrived at Lyons. The usurper has been seen in the 
environs of Paris. Bonaparte advances towards, but w^ill never enter, 
the capital. Napoleon will be under our ramparts tomorrow ; and 
lastly, his imperial majesty entered the Tuileries, on the 21st of 
March, in the midst of his faithful subjects. " Success won for 
Bismarck almost as great a change in the public regard. 

When we recall the war of 1S06, we find striking contrasts to the 
war of 1S70. Then Prussia felt as confident of success in opposing 
Napoleon as did Napoleon in 1870 in opjDOsing Prussia. Napoleon I 
deceived Williaa. ill in regard to Holland, and made his brother 
king. Prussia was incensed. On 06lober i Prussia demanded 
tliat the French armies re-cross the Rhine, that a German confeder- 
:!• ;')n )i established in the north, and that certain places be separated 
from the confederation of the Rhine. Napoleon did not deign a 
reply, but marched at once at the head of his troops upon Prussia. 
The battle of Jena was fought Oct. 14. The Duke of Brunswick, 
commander of the Prussian forces, was killed, 40,000 were slain, 
and the army of Prussia was with one blow annihilated. Further 
resistance seemed not to be thought of. Erfurt, Magdeburg, Stet- 
tin, Leipsic and Spandau surrendered, and on 061. 25 the French 
army entered Berlin in triumph. 

Fifty-five years passed, and Jena was avenged. Two fafts ex- 
plain the overthrow: The fi. rst is that Prussia was ready. She 
seemed like an arrow ready to be drawn from God's quiver, when 
the tocsin of war sounded. What Prussia lacked in 1806 she had 
in 1870. What France had in 1806 she had not in 1870. The 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 325 

second reason, and by fiir the more important, is found in the facl 
that God's hand is discovered in the war. Napoleon, described in 
Revelation 17:11 as "the beast that was and is not, even he is the 
eighth and is of the seven and goeth to perdition," was cast down, that 
the power of Rome might be broken, and that the world might take 
another stride in its march to universal brotherhood. An unseen 
hand casts the shuttle which carries the thread of a sublime destiny 
through the web and woof tied into the loom of time. 

The ao-e of the man has come — of a man that stretches one hand 
up to God and lays hold of almighty power, and extends the other 
to his sovereign- — be that sovereign a monarch or a government, or 
does he find the objedl of his regard in the people ; but in his place 
and in his way he lets God speak through him, and he wills and 
does in accordance with God's purpose and man's highest needs. 

The gi'eat D'Aubigne once declared that but little information 
can be reaped from the contemplation of the lives of men of elevated 
positions. Alas ! this is true, because so many live for self rather 
than for God, and end their lives in misfortune and shame. In 
June, 1882, Garibaldi died, living with a woman not his wife ; in 
Julv, 1SS3, Skobeleff, Russia's great general, succumbed to a 
riotous carnival of German courtesans ; Gortschakoff breathed 
his last at Baden in the arms of his German mistress ; and Gambetta 
came to his end through the casual bullet of his paramours revol- 
ver. Bismarck in his private chara6ler stands unsullied. Slander 
and suspicion have never touched that. His domestic life has been 
thoroughly pure, and it is well known by all who surround him that 
he shows unflinching severity towards all breakers of the seventh 
commandment. Though always kind and courteous to ladies, he 
has never distinguished any of the beauties he has met in his life so 
as to justify a suspicion even that he paid special attention to any 
woman, still less that he courted any. The only women who have 
found and retained a place in his heart are his mother and sister, 
his wife and daughter. His love for his vs^ife and children is very 
great, and these attend on him and take care of him in away which 
shows that the deepest affe6lion unites them to the head of the fam- 
ily. They look on those who bring hard work to the prince as per- 
sonal enemies ; they protect his sleep, his rest, his leisure even, as 
the most precious thing in the world. When he is ill, they nurse 



326 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

him with the tenderest care ; and if any one makes him smile, they 
regard him as a personal friend. 

He has conquered opposition. He began alone and unaided. 
He did it in the diet. As with Disraeli, so with Bismarck. It will 
be remembered that when Disraeli rose to speak first in the house of 
commons he found the members not only indifferent to, but scornful 
of, the famous, witty, haughty, self-possessed author, who, for deny- 
ing friendship for O'Connell, had the great agitator say of him : 
"For aught I know, the present Disraeli is the true heir-at-law of 
the impenitent thief on the cross." Such was his introduction. 
Some of the members of the house pretended to sleep ; others stepped 
out to dine, while the majority roared at him and laughed him to 
scorn. It was a test of the young man's quality. Instead of sinking 
into his seat, abashed, mortified, confounded, silenced, with his polit- 
ical career ruined, he thundered out : "I am not surprised. I have 
tried many things, and in each I have at last succeeded. I sit down 
now, but some day you will hear me." They did hear him, and 
afterwards saw Benjamin Disraeli, the Jew novelist, with black eyes, 
overhung with clustering curls, ride into Buckingham palace, chan- 
cellor of the exchequer. 

It was not different with Bismarck. At the outset, the opposition 
drowned his voice. He took out a newspaper and read it until the 
president marshal had restored order. He then concluded, still in- 
terrupted by hisses. "In my opinion, it is doing sorry service to the 
national honor to conclude that ill treatment and humiliation suf- 
fered by Prussia at the hands of a foreign ruler would not be enough 
to rouse Prussian blood and cause all other feelings to be absorbed 
by the hatred of foreigners." The anger of the Liberals was so 
violent that the marshal had to use his authority to protect him dur- 
ing his speech. Imagine his scorn as, referring to the past, he said : 
"I always thought the servitude against which the sword was thon 
used was a foreign servitude. I nov/ learn that it lay at home. For 
this correction I am not by any means grateful." The Prussian 
heart was touched. From that moment, Bismarck stood uncovered 
before the eyes of his countrymen as the champion of a united Ger- 
many. 

In 1846, Pio Nono had been elected pope of Rome. The triple 
crown of the pope was then regarded as the point of equipoise for 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 327 

the nations of Europe. To Bismarck, the pope was the bishop of 
the Roman Cathohc church, with no rights in Prussia that conflicted 
with the growth of the empire. In his estimation, the king ob- 
tained his right to rule from God — not from pope, not from people. 

John Stuart Mill says every progressive idea has to pass through 
three stages: i , expression ; 2, ridicule ; 3, adoption. Many never 
reach the second stage. They never reach the third without the 
second. It is with men as with ideas. 

We cannot follow Bismarck through the various steps which 
brought him to the year 1862, when King William was beaten by 
273 votes. Then came the fight : Shall Prussia become a democ- 
racy in facl or a monarchy ? King William resolved upon keeping 
Prussia a monarchy, and sent for Bismarck, who was then in Paris. 
In forty-eight hours he v^as in Berlin, face to face with his king, 
when he became minister of foreign affairs. 

It is said that when Napoleon was a baby he weighed no more 
than other babies ; but when he grew up to manhoood he weighed 
down Europe, Asia and Africa. Bismarck is the weightiest man in 
the world. Bayard Taylor, after being with him, in company with 
Gortschakoff, Beaconsfield and others, said: "I tell you, he is a 
great man. The others are wonderful people, but Bismarck is an 
amazino[- man — a man^ to be dreaded and admired more than loved. 
One vs^ho knows him well says that among the great personages 
who approach him — privy councillors, ministers, embassadors, 
princes even — there are many who fear him to an almost incredible 
degree, and who literally tremble before him." Men are his ser- 
vants, not his companions, and woe to any of them who dares to 
cross or disobey his will. He acknowledges only one master — the 
emperor ; he has only one object in life — the greatness of his 
country. 

The conflict time, as Charles Lowe so graphically describes it, is 
the surprise of the world. Bismarck believes in the army. He 
created it. He supported it in spite of the nation. He used it, and 
humbled Austria and wrecked France with it, and was then glori- 
fied because of his foresight and pluck. When he reached the post 
of honor and the place of power as the brain and skilled hand of 
King William, men cried: "Who in Heaven's name is Herr Von 
Bismarck.^" "He is a swaggering Junker," "a hollow braggart," 



328 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

they said. They knew him not. He was the soul of German im- 
periaHsm. 

As a minister, he represents the soveixign, speaks when he likes 
and as he likes, will not be called to order by president or squelched 
by a noisy mob. The constitution provides that "the ministers must 
be listened to at request ;" or that, whenever they have a remark to 
offer, the house is bound to regard them not as members but as 
guests, and that they are exempted from presidential authority, by 
which the house itself is bound, and enabled to rebuke or attack 
members at will. When once reminded by the president of the ir- 
relevancy of his remarks, Bismarck haughtily replied that he was 
wholly above the disciplinarv power of the chair, and that in all he 
did or said he acknowledged no master but the king. The house 
protested. The president put on his hat and dismissed the assembly. 
The ministry refused to enter the house until exempted from inter- 
ruption. The king stood by them. So Bismarck triumphed. 

It is not ours to follow^ the fascinating game of war and watch 
Von Moltke, the finest strategist in Europe, as he opens the way for 
Bismarck and his superb diplomacy. 

Recall a few facts. Bismarck determined to drive Austria out of 
Germany. It was a difficult thing to do. The king loved Francis 
Joseph. The people were for peace. Bismarck was for war. The 
kings of Saxony and Hanover and the elector of Hesse Cassel were 
told to declare in favor of union with Prussia. They refused. In 
less than two days their capitals were in the grip of the Prussian 
troops. The Holstein and Schleswig treaty was differently under- 
stood by Austria and Prussia. June i, 1866, Austria issued orders 
for convokmg the estates of Holstein so that the will of the province 
as to its own fate might be consulted. Bismarck remonstrated, 
claimed that Prussia's rights were being sacrificed, and ordered Gen- 
eral Manteuffel to march his troops into Holstein ; and on June 
1 2 King William's soldiers held Holstein and Schleswig, sea-sur- 
rounded. Austria remonstrated. On June 14, diplomatic inter- 
course between Austria and Prussia was broken off', war was de- 
clared and Bismarck grasped the helm of the ship and sailed into a 
new political world. 

The army, drilled and equipped, took the field. King William 
was commander-in-chief; Charles, the nephew, led the army of 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 329 

Bohemia, the crown prince the army of Silesia, and the army of 
Elbe was commanded by Herwarth Von Bittenfeld, equal in valor 
to Hereward the last of the English. 

"March separately; strike combined," was the command of Von 
Moltke. In seven days the war was virtually ended. Ten thou- 
sand Prussian troops and 40,000 Austrian troops were slain, and 18,- 
000 prisoners taken. This made Koniggratz a household word in 
Prussia, and Bismarck became the idol of the hour. 

"The world is collapsing," exclaimed Antonelli on receiving news 
of Koniggratz. "Ye shall obey God rather than man," said the devot- 
ed followers of Loyola, "and the will of God may be learned from 
an infallible pope." "How is he to be made infallible?" "By 
our declaring him to be so," said the Jesuits. 

Prussia conquered. France next. 

The Franco-German war reads like a romance. June 30, 1870, 
M. Ollivier, chief of the French cabinet, declared that at no time was 
the preservation of the peace of Europe so assured as at present. 
July 9, 1870, the council gathered in Rome pronounced the 
pope infallible, and on July 18 the dogma was ceremoniously pro- 
claimed. Leopold of Hohenzollern, a Prussian prince whose father 
in 1-^^49 abdicated n"i favor of the king of Prussia, was nominated to 
fill the vacant throne of Spain. Napoleon obje6led, so persistently 
and orfensively tliat i-ving William refused to communicate with the 
French minister, M. Benedetti. Though Prince Leopold declined 
the honor, } e-t Napoleon, pushed on by Rome, had thrown down 
his gloT'C to Bismarck, who accepted the challenge. July 19, w^ar 
was declared. 

July 31, the king went to Mayence with Bismarck, who had some 
days previously partaken of the sacrament in his room. Aug. 20, 
King William, at Mayence, assumed command of the united Ger- 
man armies, praying that the God of battles might smile on his 
righteous cause, and in exadlly a month from this date all France 
lay prostrate at his feet — bleeding, disorganized, demoralized, with- 
out an army, without a government, without an emperor. 

"Verily, in all history," as Carlyle wrote, "there is no instance 
of an insolent, unjust neighbor, that ever got so complete, instan- 
taneous a smashing down as France now got from Germany. The 
breath of Europe, of the whole world, was taken away by the be- 



330 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

wildering events of those stupendous, never-to-be-forgotten days. 
It was the appalling union of the infallibility of heaven with the in- 
fernality of hell." Prophecy became history. Napoleon was over- 
thrown, and the power that seemed colossal disappeared as a mist 
before a morning sun. 

The pope, who had been the dictator of Europe, became a de- 
throned potentate in Rome, and Victor Emmanuel made the Quiri- 
nal his home and Rome his capital, declaring: "The Italian gov- 
ernment believes in freedom, and w^ill grant it to the fullest extent, 
and as far as reason and the public good demand it. The country 
will provide that no bishop shall be interfered with in the direction 
of his ministry, but on his side he must not ask any privileges if he 
does not desire conditions. The principle of ^ free government is 
that the law m.ay be equal for all and without any distindlion. Thus, 
because he dared in Rome enunciate the teachings of the New 
Testament, he became the idol of the Italian heart, and was wel- 
comed with vivas to the city of Rome, the capital of Free Italy. 

Pius IX refused to accept the situation. The infallible pope had 
fallen from his high place. The trident of power was wrested from 
his grasp, and he was reduced to the spiritual leadership of the 
Roman Catholic church. He claimed that he was the prisoner of 
the Vatican, and tried to play the role of a martyr, though he lived 
in the largest palace of Europe, had the largest income of any mon- 
arch in the world, and was ministered to by the largest retinue of ser- 
vants of an^' potentate on earth. 

King '^'illiam became Kaiser William. Jan. i8, 1871, the an- 
niversary of the day on which the first king of Prussia had crowned 
himself at Konigsberg, 1701 , was fixed for the ceremonious assump- 
tion of the title in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, on which was 
inscribed : "Le roi gouverne par lui meme." But the king of 
Prussia, said the preacher, adopts this motto: '•''The kings of tJie 
earth reign under me^ saith the Lord.''^ "We, William, by 
God's grace king of Prussia, hereby announce that, the German 
princes and free towns having addressed to us a unanimous request 
that we revive the German imperial dignity, which has been sixty 
years in abeyance, and the requisite provisions having been invested 
in the constitution of the German confederation, we regard it as a 
duty we owe to fatherland to comply with this invitation, and to 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 33 1 

accept the dignity of emperor." These words were spoken by 
Bismarck in the hall of Louis XIV — rNapoleon in exile, Paris be- 
sieged, Romanism in peril and Romanists in terror. 

Austria had been overcome. France was in subjugation. The 
mightiest foe of all is now to be encountered, viz., the papacy. Let 
us lift a few windows and look at the man confronting the "mystery 
of iniquity" and outlining a path for Protestantism, not only for Ger- 
many but for all nations where Rome has found a welcome and a 
habitation. 

The peace of Westphalia, in 1648, provided for the legal exis- 
tence of the Catholic and Reformed churches. Starting w^ith this 
principle, gradual progress was made toward religious liberty. As 
well from policy as on Protestant principles, the Prussian govern- 
ment was eminently tolerant. Being traditionally a "paternal 
government," which concerns itself much more particularly with 
the personal life of the citizen than does that of any community 
speaking the English tongue, it assumes a supervision over religious 
worship and religious education, and extends the same privileges to 
Catholics as to its evangelical subjedls. The pastors and priests of 
both churches received education at national universities of their 
own faith ; the children at the schools were instructed in the reli- 
gion of their parents, and no interference with the freedom of wor- 
ship and of opinion was possible. 

This was the state of things when Pius IX, who began as a 
liberal in 1846 and banished the Jesuits from the papal states 
March 28. 184S, was overtaken by a popular revolution, in which 
Rome adopted a republican form of government, placing Mazzini 
at its head ; the pope fled to Gaeta, surrendered to the Jesuits and 
after his return, under the protection of Louis Napoleon, April 4, 
1850, devoted all his energies to imposing on the church the doc- 
trines of the middle ages. He demanded that the European na- 
tions should uphold his temporal dominion, on the ground that he 
was the vicegerent of Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 
In vain. The dog baying at the moon was as powerful. From 
bad to worse he ran. 

Dec. 4, 1864, in an encyclical letter, he made war on modern 
civilization, and condemned the principal beliefs in science, politics 
and religion which are charadleristic of the nineteenth century. It 



332 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

was accompanied by a syllabus or list of eighty errors in belief and 
practice which the pope denounced and condemned ; all of which, 
by his apostolic authority, he commanded every son of the Catholic 
church to denounce and condemn. As far as this manifesto con- 
cerned religious do6lrine only, it w^as of no political significance. 
But it declared, without disguise, that the church has the right to 
coerce dissenters, and to employ and control the civil powers in ex- 
ecuting its decrees ; it denounced as damnable the assertion that the 
popes have been guilty of usurpation in assuming authority over 
princes and governments ; it proscribed freedom of opinion and 
worship as intolerable errors, and proclaimed it a heresy to advocate 
a reconciliation of the church with modern civilization. In short, 
the pope defiantly arrogated to himself in the nineteenth century 
every power which his predecessors had attempted to exercise in the 
middle ages ; and gave notice to the governments of the fa6l. Time 
will not permit that we enter into detail in describing the conflidl 
between the Vatican and the German empire. We can only note a 
few fa els. July 185 1870, three days after the declaration of war 
between France and Prussia, the dogma of the pope's infallibility 
was proclaimed. Bishop vStrassmayer of Servia and others opposed 
it, and presented to tlie pope a written protest, and left Rome a few 
days before the final vote, which was nearly unanimous. The coun- 
cil was then prorogued until Nov. 11 ; but it never met again, since 
the disasters of France compelled the withdrawal of the French 
garrison from Rome in August, and in September the Italian troops 
occupied the city and put an end to the pope's temporal authority. 
By a bull of Oct. 30 the pope postponed the re-assembling of the 
council indefinitely, on the ground that during the occupation of 
Rome by the Italians the bishops could not enjoy the freedom and 
securit}' required for deliberation. 

Then came the fight. The pope and his allies tried to enforce 
the do6lrine of papal infallibility. The bishops of Germany largely 
opposed it. The pope and his satellites tried to control the ele6lions. 
The clerical or ultramontane party became a facl in the diet. A 
petition was presented asking for the removal of the Catholic teach- 
ers at the gymnasium at Breslau, who denied the dodtrine of papal 
infallibility, on the ground that the foundation belonged to the Cath- 
olic church. The petition was refused, with the declaration that the 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 333 

foundation dated from a time when Catholicism impHed no such 
do6trines, and that tlie teachers in question had not forsaken any 
part of the faith known as Cathohc previous to the Vatican council. 
Everywliere bishops and priests plotted against the empire, ruled by 
an influence from Rome. They tried to place the church above the 
state, where Gregory VII succeeded in placing it during the reign 
of Henry IV. They attempted to break down the system of edu- 
cation and to impede the movements of the people. The bishops did 
not scruple to use their powder of refusing absolution, not only to 
oppose education and to interfere with the eleclive franchise but 
also to direc^t judicial decisions. They sought to obtain entire con- 
trol of the education of the children. 

Then Bismarck arose and took the field, as the champion of the 
liberties of the people, and the enemy of that power which sought 
their overthrow. As a workman distinguished no more for courage 
than for far-sightedness and the skill to plant a blow between the 
eyes of his opponent, it is well to consider the measures he proposed 
and the w^ork he has achieved. 

I. Survey the situation. 

The people are rising ; the cry has been heard : 

"Rouse ye from your dreaming, 

Sinew your souls for freedom's glorious leap. 
Look to the future, where our dayspring's gleaming; 

Lo ! a pulse stirs that nevermore shall sleepp 
In the world's heart. Men's eyes flash wide with wonder ! 

The robbers tremble in their mightiest tower. 
Strange v^ ords roll o'er their souls with wdieels of thunder, 

The leaves from royalty's tree fall hour by hour, — 

Earthquakes leap in our temples, crumbling throne and power."^ 

"Oh ! but 'twill be a merry day, the world shall set apart. 
When strife's last band is broken in the last crowned tyrant's heart ! 
And it shall come — despite of rifle, rope and rack and scaffold. 
Once more we lift the earnest brow, and battle on unbaffled." 

— [Gerald Massey. 

This sentiment lives in Italy. It is heard in the communistic cry 
in Austria, when priest and altar are assailed, in the Nihilistic 
growl in Russia and in the terrific fight in Germany. 

No matter who comes or who goes, in the end thrones are to dis- 
appear, and a millenial republic, composed of separate states and 



334 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

nationalities, ruled in accordance with the teachings of the word of 
God, is to girdle the globe. 

Perhaps the downfall of the pope-king was the dropping out of the 
keystone from the arch, which endangers the entire fabric of des- 
potism. It is possible that Bismarck sees that he has builded better 
than he knew, and that the friends of despotism may find it for their 
advantage to help each other as against the republic of France ?md 
the republic of America. But the work will go on, as, when the 
guns of Sumter sent their echoes over the land, Romanists as well 
as Baptists rallied about the flag ; but after Archbishop Hughes went 
to Rome, enlistments stopped, the riots were inaugurated, Rome 
recognized the Southern Confederacy, and the great prelate of New 
York carried to his grave the humiliation that came to him when he 
was forced by the powers above him to stand rebuked for loving and 
helping liberty. But it did not stop the march of freedom. Despite 
the tearing down of orphan asylums and the trampling out the life 
of the innocents, despite the draft riots, the army w^as re-enforced, 
success came to our standards, and the nation dug for slavery a 
^rave. It will be ready to dig a deeper one for Romanism. 

2. The battle is being imaged. Note the combatants. 

On one side are the preachers of God's truth, here and elsewhere. 
They speak for God, and the men who aid them make it possible 
for them to be heard. On the other side are kings, jDotentates and 
powers. The battle is not much changed since Luther stood soli- 
tary on God's truth, and Leo X, with tiara, triple hat, treasuries and 
armories, and thunders spiritual and temporal, stood on the devil's lie. 

The struggle in Germany is full of sublime endeavors, and not only 
reveals marvelous pluck on the part of man, but shows that God 
had made things ready for victory. 

Pius IX sought to do what Gregory VII accomplished in the 
eleventh century. He tried to place the church above the state, to 
break down the system of education and to impede the movements 
of the people. Few have a conception of the gigantic task placed 
b)efore Bismarck. The vital element in the great oriental mon- 
archies was authority, in France patriotism, in Prussia it was disci- 
pline. To the people with whom Bismarck v^orked, the state was 
superior to all forms of government, and has survived all vicissitudes 
of history. 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 335 

Some one has said there are three systems according to which the 
relations of church and state may be settled ; i, The church must be 
the state and society, consequently a theocracy ; 2, There must be a 
partition of functions, more or less explicit and formal, between the 
two ; or, 3, The church must be treated like any other organization 
within the state, and be subje6ted to a supervision as severe as justice 
requires and as impartial as the interests of the state permit. These 
are the systems, respe6tively, of the days of Gregory VII, of modern 
Europe and of the United States. 

In America the separation of church and state means the inde- 
pendence of the church. In Prussia it means the disenthrallment of 
the state. The American constitution lends to the church certain 
social privileges which the state has no desire to control. In 
Prussia, the Falk laws recovered for the state certain civil and 
political functions that the church had usurped. The Prussian re- 
forms aimed at the restoration of that harmony between the two 
powers which the arrogance and selfishness of the priesthood had 
hitherto thwarted, and which is most complete when the church is 
most rigorously kept in her own field of a6lion. Prussia, like 
America, is willing to allow the church just as much freedom as is 
consistent with the welfare of the state. The Falk laws are only the 
philosophy of the Prussian government pushed to its logical conse- 
quences. 

A German writer truly says : "The struggle which has been in- 
itiated between the empire and the church was an irrepressible con- 
flidl, as truly as was that concerning freeing the negro in America." 
The infallible pope cursed all that freemen prize. He claimed the 
right to trample on freedom of conscience, and to reduce to bondage 
the men, women and children who worshiped in accordance with 
his ritual. 

Toleration, true and false, must be considered in the near future. 
Protestants, from their desire to give no handle to Romanists, are 
far more timid in interfering by the civil power than are Catholic 
princes, and the pretensions of Catholic priests rise accordingly. 
We dare not touch nunneries in the United States, lest we be called 
illiberal. We do not place reformatories under the control of the 
state, lest we interfere with religious liberty. Romanists tell us that 
they only demand the free exercise of their religion, and that in con- 



33^ BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

formity with our own principles we are bound to grant them that. 
They make nothing of the fact that the pope refuses to all dissenters 
the free exercise of their religion. If a Thug made strangling of 
travelers a part of his religion, was that to be tolerated? It is to be 
regretted that so many Protestants are blind to the fallacy here 
lurking. 

Some objedl to the use of the word "toleration"' and claim they 
do not believe in it, but in religious liberty instead. In this they 
harmonize with the Puritans, who came to this land to enjoy 
religious liberty, and who were the implacable foes of toleration. 
Feb. 5, 1 63 1, Roger Williams came to Boston. He claimed that 
Jesus Christ was the only king and legislator of his church. For 
uttering this truth, those who sought freedom to worship God per- 
secuted and drove him out into the wilderness in the midst of win- 
ter. Toleration was then unknown in all the world. 

It is a singular fact that when intolerance had covered the world 
with the shadow of despotism, Roger Williams planted on the shores 
of Narragansett bay the seedling of soul liberty, and illustrated the 
principle of tolerance from vv^hich has grown a tree v^hose leaves are 
for the healing of the nations. In 1647, ^^^^ code of laws drawn up 
by Roger Williams for Rhode Island contained the do6lrine that the 
civil power has no control over the religious opinions of men. But 
this did not preclude from supporting the faith of the gospel. Re- 
ligious freedom was not freedom from religion, but freedom within 
lawful and necessary limitations. This is shown by this dauntless 
man in a letter in which we find this language : "There goes many 
a ship to sea, with many hundred souls in one ship, and is a true 
pidlure of the commonwealth or a human combination of society. 
It hath fallen out sometimes that both papists and Protestants, Jews 
and Turks, may be embarked in one ship ; upon wdiich supposal I 
affirm that all the liberty of conscience that ever I plead for turnj 
upon these two hinges : that none of the papists, Protestants, Jewt 
or Turks be forced to come to the ship's prayers or worship, nor 
compelled from their own particular prayers or v^orship, if they 
pra6lice any. I further add that I never denied that, notwithstand- 
ing this liberty, the commander of the ship ought to command the 
chip's course ; and if there be mutiny or if any should preach or in- 
sist that there ought to be no commanders or officers because all are 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 337 

equal in Christ, therefore no masters, nor officers, no laws, no con- 
vi(5lions, no punishments, I say I never denied, but in such cases, 
whatever is pretended, the commander may judge, resist, compel 
and punish such transgressors, according to their deserts and merits." 

In this he was right. Bismarck dared say so. Hence, if a 
Romanist made it a part of his religion to shut up women against 
their will in nunneries, he made it the duty of the state to unbar the 
doors and let the captives go free. 

We ought not to be incapacitated from visiting and inspedling 
nunneries by the fa6l that we are not Romanists. We would not 
allow Protestants to keep women in prisons without a compliance 
with the forms of law, nor ought it to be allowed to Romanists to 
do that which is tyrannical and unjust. I do not forget that the 
constitution of the United States expressly declares that the govern- 
ment does not tolerate. Still, the spirit of toleration exists. For 
if the government has nothing to do with toleration, individuals 
have. The question. How far shall the spirit lead us? is most im- 
portant. 

In Germany they are not free. The ballot cannot touch the selec- 
tion of rulers. If it be true that the political life of Germany is 
withered and benumbed by the illness of the great chancellor, who 
will not let the helm pass out of his hands, and so the ship of state 
moves heavily and with effort, sometimes remaining quite still and 
again swiftly drifting to the rear, let us thank God that such a state 
of things from such a cause cannot come upon us. If we fail, it will 
be from cowardice, because we are untrue to God and do not (per- 
haps because we dare not) proclaim the truth, the whole truth, and 
nothing but the truth. If Germany shall fail, because the eye of the 
great chancellor grows dim and his strength abates, let America take 
up the work and end the fight. 

There is, then, a distindlion to be made between true and false 
toleration. There is a maudlin and toothless tolerance, a vague 
sentiment of somnolent acquiescence in all propositions, vs^hich is the 
despicable burlesque of one of the noblest of qualities. Tolerance 
of the right kind is manly. In agreement it is cordial, in disagree- 
ment it is frank. It can understand and sympathize with individual 
feeling ; it can respedt the inalienable privilege of each man to be 
judged by his Maker ; but it will not admit that the difference be- 



33^ BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

tween truth and error is slight, or that it is a matter of no moment, 
supposing us to be honest whether we hold the one or the other. 
Its principle is to be always charitable, and to add to its charity in- 
telledlual clearness. Its charity enables it to do justice to the in- 
dividual ; its intelledlual clearness enables it, while passing by all in 
which its views have been erroneous or defective, to appropriate 
whatever in them is good and true and beautiful. Freedom should 
be sought, not to help unbelief, but because of a yearning after the 
truth. There is a toleration which is true ; it permiits, it refuses to 
persecute, opinion ; but it does not put a padlock on the lips of 
truth while it places a trumpet to the lips of error. It leaves error 
to be overcome by truth, while it plies the truth. Peter did this 
when he shouted, "We must obey God rather than man." False 
tolerance commands: "Sit still, and let the ship be scuttled." 
"Give up to pirates, to banditti, that which God has placed in our 
care." 

The question arises, What is duty? How far can we safely go 
under the lead of a false tolerance ? Can the gospel be fearlessly 
preached in a land where error is courted.^ Can righteous laws be 
enforced, the safe-guards of society be prote(5led, the rights of human 
nature be defended ? It is a solemn and momentous question for us 
and the whole world. It is upon us. Rome boasts her intolerance 
and shields herself behind the assertion that God is intolerant. 
Monstrous charge ! The history of God's dealings with mankind 
proves this assertion to be false. God is not intolerant. He com- 
mands his sun to shine on the evil and the good. He permits error 
to exist, but at the same time presses upon the attention of all their 
need of the gospel and commands his disciples to go forth into all 
the vv^orld and preach the gospel to every creature, saying that truth 
shall save mankind, for "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall 
make 3'^ou free." 

In Germany we see the battle fought out to its certain issue. Let 
us note carefully the steps taken. On Jan. 31, 1850, Prussia em- 
bodied in her constitutional law the great principle of religious free- 
dom which had been laid down by the German national parliament 
in 1S4S as a fundamental law of Germany. That law reads thus: 
"Every religious society manages its own affairs, but remains sub- 
je6l to the general laws of the state." "The right of general over- 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 339 

■sight consists in the competence to take cognizance of all which 
transpires in the church, and to take all needful precautions in order 
to prevent or repel the encroachments of the church on the domain 
•of the state." So said Dr. Grieist, chairman of the commission. 

In January and February, 1871, the bishops of Ems and 
Cologne, now become obedient servants of the infallible pope, tried 
to remove all teachers who refused to teach the new Roman dogma. 

The Bavarian government refused to permit the promulgation of 
the Vatican council. Dr. Dollinger, the most eminent theologian 
and historian of the Catholic church, published his reply to the 
archbishop of Munich, showing that the dogma was without the 
support of Scripture or the fathers, and in dire6t contradiction to 
the decisions of former councils and popes. This letter stirred the 
religious world of Germany and Europe to its depths. The conflict 
appeared in the diet. Meantime, the schism in the German Cath- 
olic church grew wider and wider. The majority of the intelledl 
and scholarship of the church rejedled the Vatican council, while 
nearly the whole clergy sustained it. 

Sept. 23, 1 87 1, the Old Catholics assembled in Munich, re-affirmed 
their devotion to the system of doctrines and worship which had 
always been to them the Catholic church, proclaimed the political 
•charadler of the innovations of the Vatican council, and unanimously 
called on the government to expel the Jesuits from Germany. They 
provided for the organization of Old Catholic churches, and de- 
manded from the governments the recognition of these churches as 
entitled to the same privileges and support which had been given to 
the Catholic church since the peace of Westphalia. It was granted. 
The fight grew more fierce. Not one of the German bishops joined 
the movement. In June, 1873, Dr. Joseph Reinkens was ele6led 
bishop of the Old Catholic church. The Roman hierarchy refused 
to consecrate him. In July, Hey Komp, the Jansenist bishop of 
Deventer, in the Netherlands, ordained him. 

The representative of the Romish church in the Prussian ministry, 
becoming the agent of the infallible pope, was set aside. Then the 
effc:)rt was made to force upon ail Catholic schools the do6trine of 
papal infallibility. In March, 1872, the law was passed depriving 
the church of all control over religious instru6lion in the schools. 

It was May 14, 1872, that Bismarck announced that he was for 



340 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

war. "Of this be sure, that neither in church or state are we on the 
way to Canossa" (where Henry IV, in 1077, waited three days 
and nights, praying for absokition) . The Jesuits then uncovered 
their hand and tried to throttle Germany. In 1S55 there were 69 
convents with 976 inmates. In 1869 there were 826 convents, with 
8,319 inmates. Of these orders the Jesuits were masters. In June, 
1872, the diet passed an order expelhng foreign Jesuits from the 
empire, suppressing their institutions, and giving the governinent 
power to superintend and checlv all the religious orders in affiliation 
with the Jesuits ; thus imit:iting Clement XIV,- who abolished the 
order in 1773,, and Pius IX, who banished them early in his rule. 

Schools and seminaries were closed. Chairs of theology were 
left vacant. Hundreds of flimilies were deprived of their spiritual 
overseers, while the latter were robbed of their material support. 
The Catholic press was rigorously dealt with. Church processions 
were controlled by the police. ~ Deserted cloisters and other religious 
establishments began to dot the land, as if a despoiling enemy had 
passed over it. The servants of the cjiurch were fined, imprisoned 
and banished without mere}'. Archbishops' palaces were broken 
into and their inmates pursued. Tumults broke out in churches ; 
God's acres were profaned by strife. The cross no longer protected 
from arrest. Priests were torn away from the altar and flung into 
prison, so relendess was the fight under the regime of the Falk 
laws. These were passed in May, 1S73, and reveal the determin^i- 
tion of the German government to attend to her own concerns, un- 
avvX-d and unhindered by foreign povv^ers. 

The first law permits the voluntary change of his church relations 
by any member of the established church. The second law pro- 
vides for the education and appointment of the clergv who shall be 
recognized by the sta:e as pistors. It requires that every man to 
be eligible to this offiee shall first have received a training in a 
public school and a universitv, side by side with the young men 
preparing for other professions, and shall pass such examination in 
general science and literature, and in German historv, as is required 
of them ; and, after all this, he shall not be installed in his work 
without the approval of the civil authorities. These restrictions do 
away with the seminaries or private monastic schools of which 
Rome is so fond, and for which for a generation she has been con- 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 34 1 

tending. The third hiw regulates all ecclesiastical discipline and 
censure, forbidding the inflidlion of fines, imprisonment and corpo- 
ral punishment for offenses against the church, bringing the "re- 
formatories"' used for discipline of wards of the church under state 
supervision, and instituting an ecclesiastical court of appeals, com- 
posed of learned judges, before which all questions of ecclesiastical 
punishment are tried on appeal from the clerical authorities. No 
more inquisitorial punishment in Germany. 

The struggle was watched with intense interest b}- the whole civ- 
ilized world, for the issues were vast and momentous. Would the 
policy of "blood and iron" which had made Germany strong also 
succeed in breaking the power of Rome ? The question whether 
there shall be civil government to which its subje(?ts yield direct and 
sole allegiance, or a universal paparchy, was to be settled. Bis- 
marck claimed that it was the deeper question whether the nation 
shall exist — the nation in its entirety and its integrit}' — with its pat- 
riotic consciousness, with its self-ordered institutions, its laws, its 
schools, its arts and sciences, its communitj^ of ideas and interests ; 
or whether within every nation there shall be another nation, an 
ecclesiastical nation, struggling against it and striving for the mas- 
tery, even to the destruction of the bod}^ politic, In one word, he 
believed it to be a question between society and the s\ llabus. For 
this the Jesuits called him the incarnation of the devil. 

Dr. Ludwig Windthorst, who poses as the implacable foe of the 
Falk laws, was a minister of the deposed king of Hanover, and re- 
mains utterly hostile to his country's absorption bv Prussia. He is 
a Guelph first, a clerical afterwards and last of all a German. He 
is a good party leader but a poor patriot. He is taminutive in 
body, homely in looks and gifted with the spirit that denies. En- 
thusiastic, yet self-possessed, cynical, relentless, resourceful and 
full of mother-wit, a simple and agreeable old gentleman in pri- 
vate, a blindly trusted party leader, admirably skilled in busi- 
ness forms and fence of speech, combining the starched rigor of 
the bureaucrat with the mirth-provoking sallies of the buffoon ; a 
statesman of one idea, with a multitude of admirers, the German 
champion of the pope, the pea in the boot of the imperial giant. 
(Lowe's Bismarck, Vol. II, p. 268. ) 

When ^ve remember that the bishops of the Catholic world are 



342 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

bound by feudal oaths to the pope, who is claimed to be infallible, 
the priests to the bishops and the laymen to the priests, we gain 
a conception of the work upon which the people of Germany 
entered, when pope and bishop were defied and the people were 
helped. The pope and the church were treated as relics of a past 
age, and were set aside as obstru(5lions to the car of progress, 
which was thought to be the car of salvation. It is impossible to 
overestimate the uncompromising stand against the aggressive spirit 
of Romish pretension. The words of Bismarck and the resolves of 
the diet sent waves of influence throughout the world, and not only 
disturbed the foundations of the papacy but recalled attention to the 
position of Luther, viz., that the Bible, interpreted according to the 
l)est knowledge of believing Christians, is the only rule of faith and 
practice. Upon this platform it was possible for all to stand who 
desired to work for God and the right. But all did not accept the 
platform. 

It is said that Germany feels the necessity of conciliating the pope, 
and still Germany cannot go back on itself. The events of yester- 
day shape the actions of today, despite ourselves. Let us be just to 
Bismarck. When the harpoon strikes into the vitals of the whale, 
the wise hunter gives the monster rope, and death is the result. 
Bismarck is not yet through w4th the pope. He believes in the bet- 
ter thought of the Catholic people of the empire. He believes in 
education, in enlightenment, in good feeling, for Germany. 

Bismarck is a monarchist. He w^orks for the good of the empire 
and accepts what help is within his reach. Pius IX he fought to 
the end. Leo XIII he tried to conciliate. To do this he fraternized 
with Windthorst, his life- long foe, and set one side Dr. Falk — the pro- 
found jurist, the implacable foe of the papacy, the author of the laws 
that let Prussia throw ofl' the manacles of superstition and drive the 
Jesuits from her borders ; a man like Luther in appearance, and re- 
sembling him in energy and the serious eloquence of deep convic- 
tions — placing in his stead Herr Von Putt Kammer, a man who 
would be less offensive to freedom's opponents. 

Remember two fa6ls. The young emperor refused to betray 
Humbert, king of Italy, by attempting to conciliate the pope ; and 
he has just conferred the order of the "Black Eagle" on Herr Von 
Putt Kammer. Is not this in line with German policy, which 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 345 

says, "Hands off, Leo XIII," while a welcome Is extended to every 
Roman Catholic who will help build up the German empire ? Is 
not that the policy for America ? Make of the men like Edward 
McGlynn and others who sever the tie binding them to the Vatican, 
while they give their hearts to the fostering of the American spirit,- 
bent on building up all the jDeople by educating the youth in accord- 
ance with the needs of the hour and the hopes of the future. With- 
out forsaking the broad general principles by which Dr. Falk had been 
guided, Herr Von Putt Kammer took every opportunity of temper- 
ing with mercy, and even indulgence, their particular application. 

A minister, Herr Von Schlozer, April 24, 1882, delivered to the 
pope his credentials; and diplomatic relations, broken off in 1874, 
were restored. 

Rome demanded the repeal of the May laws. Prussia insisted 
upon the recognition of her right to be heard in the appointment of 
ministers ; the pope acquiesced, and in behalf of his colleagues 
Bishop Kulm begged dispensation of the government for the sus- 
pended servants of the church who had not undergone the statutory 
training for their office. Prussia consented, and towards the close 
of 1883 most sees had been re-provided with pardoned bishops and 
re-endowed with the means of salarying them. 

The visit of the crown prince upon Leo set the tongue of the 
world wagging, and made thousands ask : "Is the blood of Bismarck 
cooling? Has he tired of the strife with the pope, or does he want 
to use him to fight socialists and anarchists ?" It is known that the 
crown prince went to Spain and to Italy to carry the greetings of his 
father and manifest the good feeling of the emperor towards those 
governments ; and while In Rome, the guest of King Humbert, he 
paid his respe6ls to the pope, to show that the relations between 
Prussia and the Curia were such as made this act of courtesy proper. 

Catholics, led by Dr. WIndthorst, claimed that the pope still ruled 
the world ; and yet the Falk laws remain in all their essential 
particulars, nor will Prussia yield. As plain as general words could 
do it, the crown prince told the pope that "No Italian priest would 
ever tithe or toll in his dominions." No Prussian sovereign would 
ever consent to alter the law^s and constitution of the land In con- 
formity with the church, since the Independence of the monarchy 
would suffer grievous attaint were the free course of its legislation 



344 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

to be controlled by a foreign power. Though th3 world h^s since 
been saddened by the death of Emperor Frederick, so cultured, so 
loyal to Germany, to wife, to Protestantism, and seemingly so nec- 
essary, yet his death has hurt Romanism rather than helped it, and 
the pope writhes as never before in the clutch of the hand of steel. 

The cloister law, still in force, dissolving and expelling from 
Prussia all religious orders whatever save purely Samaritan ones ; 
another, entrusting tlie administration of church property in Catholic 
parishes partly to the congregations themselves, partly to the state ; 
and a third, securing to Old Catholics the continued use and enjoy- 
ment of churches and church funds — of which the bishops, treating 
them as damnable heretics, had endeavored to deprive them — all 
prove that Leo XIII is not monarch of Germany, but simply bishop 
of Rome. The clergy have to choose between submission and go- 
ing without a salary. The cloister law adopts the advice of John 
Knox, and drives away the rooks by destroying their nests — expels 
the Jesuits by breaking up their jDlaces of refuge. Of a piece with 
it was the ministerial law, forbidding the alienation of real property 
belonging to the church without the consent of the state. 

Romanism has protection in Prussia. But she is under rule, she 
is not master ; let Americans rule in America as fearlessly, and 
no harm w^ill come. No longer are priests permitted to harangue 
against the government from pulpit and platform. All public and 
private schools are to be inspected by the officers of the state, instead 
of by the church, as heretofore. The state claimed absolute control 
of the school. As a result, the children are taught of God, of the 
work of creation, of Providence as seen in history and in life. 

The Protestant governments of Europe already feel the spirit of 
the reform. It is seen that Rome is running against a sentiment 
that must enter as a wedge and disrupt it. The light of truth is 
streaming forth amid the fogs and mists of superstition. Like sun- 
shine, surmounting ail earthly obstru6lions, it will break from heaven 
upon their mountains and spread over their valleys. It will flash 
upon every bayonet and blaze upon every crucifix. It will pene- 
trate the windows of ever}^ palace and of every cathedral, and gleam 
like an angel of deliverance in every dungeon and every cell and 
€very home. It will dazzle into blindness the eyes that dare oppose 
it, and burn like fire into the hearts that harden themselves against 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 345 

it. If need be, it will condense itself into lightning and convert its 
rays into thunderbolts, to smite the pope upon his throne, and the 
cardinals and bishops, the emperors and kings, that bow at his feet 
and offer him worship, overwhelming them with wrath, for the honor 
of God and in mercy to the people. In a word, the principles of 
liberty derived from God in the study of his word will have free 
course and be glorified. 

In schools where Protestant and Catholic children mingle together, 
the methods of religious instruction are various, according to the 
creed of the neighborhood and the style of instruction of the teacher. 
Sometimes the teacher calls the class around him and relates in his 
own language the simple narratives of the Bible. Sometimes he 
employs the translation of the Scriptures in use among the people. 
The higher classes receive instruction in the v^hole Bible history, 
finishing with a summary of Christian doctrine in the form of a 
catechism, which is the one employed by the church to which the 
parents of the scholars belong. Religious instrudlion of some kind 
is compulsory. The teachers, however, abstain from sectarian 
peculiarities or from casting odium upon any denomination of 
Christians. Said Horace Mann : "Nothing receives more attention 
in the Prussian schools than the Bible. It is taken up early and 
studied systematically. In all the Protestant schools the Luther 
catechism is used and in all the Roman Catholic schools the Cath- 
olic catechism is used, and when the schools are mixed they have 
combined literary with separate religious instru6lion ; and here all 
the doctrines of the gospel are taught early and most assiduously.'* 

Against this, unreasonable sectarian bigotry and infidel, lawless 
latitudinarianism, at variance with all good government, fights in 
vain, while William is emperor and Bismarck is his right hand. 

It has been said that Rome eschews politics. Nothing can be 
farther from the truth. The reichstag had been packed by German 
priests. They had terrorized the electors. They had denounced 
the return of a Protestant candidate as a sin against the church ; 
they had commanded their congregations to vote for men of their 
choice ; in fact, they had converted their pulpits into platforms and 
their confessionals into witness-boxes, and fearlessly they sought to 
influence elections by these means. As a result came the law of 
Dec. 10, 1871, making it a penal offense for clergymen to incite to 



34^ BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

riot or otherwise endanger the peace by harangues against the 
government. Just such a law has been passed in Italy, and so 
Romanism in Rome and in Berlin is under the ban. 

Then followed the law placing the inspe(5lion of public and pri- 
vate schools entirely in the hands of the state. Let Americans 
study this system with care. In it are the seedlings of hope for the 
rising generation. 

Bismarck deserves the thanks of Christendom for declaring, and 
for making the declaration a fact, that the state is to protect the 
people and not enslave them. He believes that the people have a 
right to protection from the despotism of Rome. 

Men and women have a right to trial in accordance with the 
forms of law, and if convicted they should be punished, but Rome 
has no right to immure w^hom she will in the cells of convents and 
monasteries without redress. In Germany the canon law is not 
permitted to override the law^ of the land, and corporal punishment 
cannot be administered as an ecclesiastical penalty. The rule of 
Germany in civil matters cannot be interfered with by pope or 
bishop. The church may persuade, it cannot drive, its subjects. 
Church officers who violate the law of the land are punished by the 
state, and the church cannot stay its hand. Church ministers de- 
posed by the state cannot perform official functions without being 
arrested, tried, and if found guilty, fined for the first offense .£15 and 
for a repetition .£150. Cases of appeal are to be tried by the royal 
tribunal of ecclesiastical affairs, composed of eleven judges, the pres- 
ident and five judges to be from the state, and the decisions of this 
tribunal to be final. 

These are Prussian laws. The tendency of them is to make the 
clergy more national and less ultramontane. They protect the laity 
and the clergy from being made the vi6lims of the extravagantand ar- 
bitrary power of the hierarchy in carrying out the designs of the pope 
and his Jesuitical advisers against the liberties of mankind. 

Some lessons to be pondered. 

(a) This man is an illustration of the words of the psalmist : 
* 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 
nor standeth in the w^ay of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the 
scornful ; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law 
doth he meditate day and night." 



BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 347 

Bismarck is powerful just as he has represented in his life, pur- 
pose and words the Lord God of hosts. For the Lord God is a sun 
to light and a shield to protedl ; the Lord will give grace and glory ; 
no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O 
Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. (Ps. 
84: II, 12.) 

In Bismarck there is a double nature. The religion of Christ has 
done for him mighty things. By nature he is wild and wayward. 
From the moment he heard and heeded God's call he has been a 
wonder to himself. God has used him not only to promote Ger- 
man unity but to beat back popish aggression, to witness for the 
truth and to make Germany the bulwark of religious freedom. Na 
man can live to himself, if he lives w^isely and well. 

Napoleon Bonaparte sprung from the people to power, in a manner 
so marvelous that the world was astonished by the brilliancy of his 
genius no more than by the divine purpose he seemed to represent. 
He broke up the old order. His armies swept over Europe like a 
resistless force. Kings, emperors and even the supreme pontiff 
were compelled to pay him homage and obey his mandates. He 
broke up and broke through the old order. He went on from 
strength to strength. In due time, for the sake of dominion and 
selfish adulation, he sought to w^in the pope's blessing, and turned 
his back on the purposes for which he had been raised ; then down he 
went, like a planet of the first magnitude loosened from its orbit and 
hurled with crashing, crushing force into remediless ruin. On St. 
Helena he died, realizing that if he had served Jesus Christ, the 
King of kings and Lord of lords, he might have been a success. 

Kossuth drew after him the heart-love of the world and became 
the standard bearer of liberty in Hungary and in Europe. Ta 
America he came. He confronted slavery. He forgot that liberty 
is universal, as is God. It is not Hungarian or English or Ameri- 
can. It is liberty. Down he went. 

Bismarck has everything to gain by being true to God. As a 
token of love and confidence, his great friend, the late emperor, 
made him rich in estates, in honor and in money. What God said 
to Solomon, who asked for "an understanding heart to judge the 
people, that I may discern between good and bad," he seems to have 
said to Bismarck for the same reason, and to have given him that 



34^ BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

and also riches, honor and long life. On April i, 1885, his seven- 
tieth birthday, his friends presented him with the munificent sum 
of £137,503 — over $500,000 ; w^ith this, in part, his friends restored 
to him the old ancestral property of Schonhausen, with which the 
chancellor's father had been forced to part. His annual income is 
$100,000. His Varzin estate he purchased out of the sum of 
£60,000 granted him in 1866, after the Bohemian campaign ; while 
the emperor presented him w^ith Friedrichsruh, worth a million 
thalers, or about £150,000, in lieu of a donation out of the French 
milliards. Though rich, no one has ever accused him of obtaining 
'wealth by unfair means. 

(b) The inspirations of history have been listened to and are 
invaluable. 

Prussia is today what the past has made her. We are interested 
in her because of what she has wrought for God and man, and for 
what she is capable of achieving under God's guidance. The his- 
tory of Protestantism is linked to the history of her life. Without 
its aid Prussia would never have become powerful and independent. 
They only truly live who live for God, and who permit God to live 
.in them, both to v^ill and to do according to his good pleasure. The 
Reformation grew up under the sheltering care of Prussia. Thus the 
German nation broke through the meshes of Romanism, and attained 
to an intelle6lual life that has made her the cradle of philosophy and 
the home of a literature that has enriched the world. 

( c ) The discharge of ixianifest duty secures safety. 

Bismarck's life illustrates this truth, and ought to teach cowards a 
lesson. Mazzini, who scorned a disguise, traveled alt over Europe 
when the continent was rocking under the mighty throes of revolu- 
tion, and could not be arrested. Luther, who shook down popery 
and was hated as no other man was ever hated, died in his bed. Bis- 
marck laughs at peril, and goes unharmed along the path of destiny. 

Emperor William was known far and near as a man who believed 
in God and who served Jehovah with delight. Beside him stood 
Bismarck. His loyalty was a part of his religion, but not by any 
means the whole of it. Bismarck believes in God and worships 
him with delight. 

When the attempt was made upon his life by the assassin's bullet, 
though wounded, he went home, and before any one knew of it 



BISMARCK, ins DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 349 

in the house they detected in his earnest thanksgiving to -God at the 
table that he had been miraculously preserved, and when grace was 
said he told them that he had been shot, but was not seriously 
wounded. The calmest man that day in Berlin was Bismarck. 

Dr. Busch, who knows him most intimately, has this to say of the 
gi'eat man's religious views: "Bismarck acknowledges that in re- 
ligion, as well as in politics, he has successively arrived at different 
stages of development. First of all he passed through a rationalistic 
phase ; then came a time during which he v/as an unbeliever, or, at 
least, experienced no religious requirements at all ; later on, he gave 
expression to such decided opinions that no doubt could be enter- 
tained as to his views, obviously those of a man whose standpoint 
was Christian and even confessional ; and of late years he appears 
to have retained only the old faith, believing firmly in God, trust- 
ing in the merits of Jesus Christ for salvation and in the promise 
through him of infinite care in this world and the enjoyments of 
heaven beyond this vale of tears. Hence in 1878 he said: 'If I 
had come to entertain the belief which nothingness brings beyond 
death, though I live a life of great a6livity and occupy a lucrative 
part, all this could offer me no inducement to live a day longer did 
I not, as the poet Schiller declares, "believe in God and a better 
future.'" 'I firmly believe,' said he, on another occasion, 'in a life 
after death. To my steadfast faith alone do I owe the power of 
resisting all manner of absurdities.'" 

Though for twenty years physically unable to attend church, he 
is a zealous Bible reader. On the morning after the capitulation 
of Sedan, his secretary found his bed-chamber littered with hymn 
books, religious tracts and the texts of Moravian brethren for 
"Believing Christians." This was the literature from which the 
iron chancellor had sought refreshment during the sleepless night 
of a terrible day. On the other hand,. Louis Napoleon read, that 
same night, Bulwer Lytton's "Last of the Barons." 

The outcome : who can tell it? The speech of Bismarck in the 
reichstag, in January, 1887, has, single-handed, accomplished a 
peace as profound as did a half million of soldiers in 1815. In the 
path of God's purpose, working in accordance with the Almighty 
Will, he is the weightiest force living among men. 

In the cable holding the ship away from the lee shore, it matters 



350 BISMARCK, HIS DOINGS AND UNDOINGS. 

not what link breaks, the chain goes with the link. In Germany 
the link which held the papacy to the past was broken. Like a 
water-logged ship the papacy is drifting towards us in America. 
The rock of truth shall welcome her ; the sea of truth shall furnish 
waves of thought to break her up, and the songs of emancipated 
millions, shouting "The Lord is my strength and song, and he i& 
become my salvation ; he is my God and I will prepare him an 
habitation, my father's God and I will exalt him," shall tell the 
world that America furnishes the plain where the battle of Armaged- 
don is to be fought in sight of all, when God shall win the vidlory^ 
and the fetter of Rome shall be broken and humanity shall be free^ 
May God hasten the day ! 



THE PAULINE PROPAGANDA, ITS 
PURPOSE AND PLAN. 



*'This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, 
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
without natural affedlion, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, 
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high- 
minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ; having a 
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn 
away." II Timothy 3 : 1-5. 

Paul, in these words, outlined the chara6ter of the Roman Cath- 
olic church, gave a description by which the enemy of all right- 
eousness might be known, and proclaimed the unmistakable duty 
of Christians in the w^ords : "From such turn away." It is time 
this warning was sounded out from the battlements of Zion and 
from the watch-towers of the press. The Christian forces of America 
are asleep. Paul saw this, and exhorted to preach the word, to be 
instant in season and out of season, to reprove, rebuke, with all long- 
suffering. The gates to hope are now wide open. Say not ye. 
There are yet four months and then cometh the harvest ; but lift up 
your eyes and look, for the fields are white already for the harvest. 
"But the time shall come when they will not endure strong doctrine 
but shall turn away to fables." 

Either all history is a fable, or there are signs of a coming con- 
fli6t, which will be desperate if not long. There is danger to liberty, 
danger to our public school system, danger to the very character of 
Christianity. Romanism is a felt power in our American life. It 
has violated our Sabbath; the feeling that the day may be given 
up to pleasure comes from Romanism. It has invaded our litera- 
ture and weakened it. Its opposition to the word of God causes 
silence concerning its w^eighty truths and imperative commands, 
and makes the probation theory a kind of purgatorial annex. The 
trouble is that we cannot argue with a Romanist on scriptural 



352 PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 

grounds ; for, while he shelters his religious belief under the shield 
of the church's infallibility, and declines an investigation of the 
grounds of a different persuasion upon the plea that such persuasion 
must be wrong because his church condemns it, we are forced into 
a fight with the pretended infallibility of a church that is described 
in the word of God as the "Man of Sin,",the "mystery of iniquity," 
the "Mother of Harlots." 

To wage this fight, the Pauline Propaganda was organized. The 
Evangelical Alliance treats the Roman Catholic church as one of 
the religious denominations and as a part of the Christian world. 
In the appeal for a great meeting to be held in Washington, the 
words Rome and Romanism do not appear. The ministry of all de- 
nominations is silent in regard to this terrific foe, that reddened 
Europe with blood, that impoverished its noblest nations, and is to- 
day shrouding the sky of millions with the gloom of an eternal night. 
The feeling has come upon a few that the truth concerning Rome 
must be told, and that this is the time to tell it. 

There is no fear if God's children will be true. The called, the 
chosen and the faithful can overthrow Romanism whenever they 
will arise and speak. Then shall the embodiment of error be taken 
away, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord 
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth" — which is the word of 
God faithfully proclaimed — "and shall destroy with the brightness 
of his coming ; even him, whose coming is after the working of 
Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all 
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they 
received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 

There can be no neutral ground. If Romanism is right, what we 
call Christianity is a delusion and a sham. If Christianity be a fact, 
then Romanism is its terrible and implacable foe. Believing in 
Christ, it is not difficult to discover reasons why Satan should desire 
that so-called Christians should reckon Romanists as a part of the 
Christian world, and give over our youth to their instrudiion and our 
country to their direction. Then does he know, whether the people 
know it or not, that the children would be brought up in ignorance, 
and the republic of the United States, built to be the light of the 
world, would quench her altar fires and leave humanity to grope on 
in the night that enshrouds Mexico, that impoverishes Spain and 



PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 353 

that has made Italy, blessed by climate and by soil, the charnel- 
house of Europe. 

Romanists believe in the mission of Romanism. You see it in the 
way they grasp the conception of absolute and universal dominion^ 
Rome legislates for the whole world as if she expected to rule it. 
She worships the Lord God the pope. His word is authority with 
250,000,000 people. At his di6tum the Bible is banished from the 
home, burned in the public street and driven out of the public 
school. 

Some one has said : "The Roman Catholic idea of religion in the 
public school would be a good one if the religion taught were a good 
religion." But the Roman Catholic theory is wrong and bad. It 
believes in an absolute and unquestioned dominion, and worships a 
man instead of God. If the ideas they hold were those of God, then 
the heart of the worshiper would be expanded ; but when religion 
implies the adherence to some earthly man and the bloody overthrow 
of all who cannot follow this temporal captain, it cannot produce the 
form of soul demanded by the new era. 

The Paulme Propaganda came into being because there are those 
who believe that Romanism is the life-long foe of pure and undefiled 
religion, and that Romanists, because they believe a lie instead of the 
truth, will be damned. As Paul said in his letter to the Romans^ 
they are now under condemnation : "For the wrath of God is re- 
vealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of 
men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness ; because that which may 
be known of God is manifest m them, for God hath showed it unto 
them. * * Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and 
changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like 
to corruptible man, * * changed the truth of God into a lie and 
worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is 
blessed forever." Rom. i : i8, 19, 22, 23, 25. 

Romanists, deluded by the errors of Rome and embracing them 
instead of welcoming Jesus Christ in faith, are lost, and are on their 
way to an endless and eternal hell. Who believes it.-^ Who dares 
deny it, with God's word in hand.? 

Thomas Jefferson wrote : "Error may safely be tolerated, when 
truth is left fi-ee to combat it." The words of our Lord are better 
when he said: "If ye continue in my word, ye shall know the 



,354 PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 

truth and the truth shall make you free." Hence, we say error need 
not be feared when truth combats it. But truth asleep, truth 
inactive, truth coffined for the tomb, is worthless. Christians- 
blind to the aggressions of Romanism, and therefore silent, are the 
allies of despotism, of ignorance and of crime. Their indifference tc 
error is a betrayal of truth. But when they stride forth as cham- 
pions of the truth, and point a Romanist, worshiping a man-made 
wafer as the incarnate God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, who ascended 
on high, after thirty-three years of sinless living and blessed helping, 
to the mediatorial throne where he now reigns in power, in glory and 
in majesty, and who is soon to come and put every enemy under his 
feet, they fulfil their mission by discharging their manifest duty. 

I. A.n organization whose special work shall be to expose the 
errors of RoTnanism and call atte7ttio7i to their destrudive in- 
fluence is essential to the welfare of the Christian church. 

This work will be opposed by those whose theory is that Roman- 
ists are to be saved by overlooking the errors of Rome, talking of 
the achievements of the church, and showing that the true church 
of Christ has something better to offer to the individual soul than has 
the Roman Catholic church. The trouble is that Rome lays claim 
to all we have, and to tradition and the products of a church de- 
clared to be infallible, which by council and conclave has made va- 
rious additions to the word of God. If there is to be no dispute 
concerning error and its poisonous effects, the work ends, and Ro- 
manism becomes victor. 

It is admitted that organizations exist for almost every con- 
ceivable object. Missions, at home and abroad, are the outcome. 
Tra6l, publication and Bible societies, consecrated to the furtherance 
of the interests committed to their care, engage public thought and 
secure the patronage of the community. The vv^orld understands 
the value of combination of talent and of wealth for the promotion of 
the various objects to which it gives its heart. Parties that take the 
people of the entire country into their confidence, and marshal them 
for service, illustrate the value of a perfe6ted organization. 

The pope is at the head of 250,000,000 people who believe in 
his di(5la and obey his commands. His system is here to stay. It is anti- 
Christian, opposed to liberty and finds in ignorance its sheet-anchor. 
To call attention to this fa6l is a duty. 



PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 355 

The church has its place. Our Lord recognized the importance 
of the thought. Hence, as soon as individuals were converted, they 
were organized into churches. Baptism was the door. Then they 
were ready for work — this as much as any. "Therefore let all 
the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same 
Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." He is the king in 
Zion. He commands that the believers go and preach the gospel, 
and whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. When 
Peter proclaimed this truth, the people were pricked in their hearts 
and asked, What shall we do ? His reply was : Repent and be 
baptized every one of you for the remission of sins, and ye shall re- 
ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (AAs 2 : 38.) 

Our fathers believed that an organization was essential to preach- 
ing the gospel to Romanists. The individual becomes stronger and 
braver by being able to touch elbows in the march. Hence 
Christians unite in organizations as a matter of expediency and duty. 
In 1845 there were but two millions of Romanists in the land. The 
American Protestant society and the Foreign Evangelical society 
were in the midst of a great work. Gardner Spring, John Dow- 
ling, William Hague, the eloquent Bethune and the astute Baird,. 
with many more, were valiant in the fight. In 1850 these two or- 
ganizations were merged into the American and Foreign Christian 
union. It went on until 1884, and died because Christians have 
fraternized with the foe. As, in ancient times, Israel married into 
families opposed to the faith and surrendered to evil, so now, be- 
cause Romanists have votes which all parties desire. Christians who 
are men as well as Christians permit interest to gain the ascendency 
over principle, and for the sake of gain furl the banner of righteous- 
ness. 

The enemy is wiser in its day and generation than the children of 
light. Romanists live as Romanists, go to church as Romanists, 
and vote as Romanists. You can go to them, they will not come 
to you. As was said in 1845, so say we now : "Rome has started 
m for the conquest of this western continent." The boast has been 
made that victory already perches upon her banners. 

The line of division is running through the land. On one side is 
popery with her allies. On the other are the friends of pure 
Christianity. As popery is but paganism revived, and under her 



35^ PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 

banner all idolatrous nations may be gathered, with infidel and crim- 
inal classes who gladly seek alliances with Rome, what ought we 
to do? What would be the condu6l of a wise general and a wise 
people when the country is invaded by a foreign foe ? Consolidate 
and concentrate for united ad;ion, and not attempt to meet the 
enemy in small parties. 

It has been said that if the Christian church was all it might be or 
w^hatthe gospel requires, there would be no need of definite organi- 
zations. What is everybody's is nobody's business. It is apparent 
that there must be co-operation. The proof of the pudding is in the 
mating. When the American and Foreign Christian union was in 
operation, attention was called to this subject. The agents of the 
society went among the churches, great meetings were held, appeals 
were made, Bible readers and colporteurs were supported, and 
thousands of Romanists in this and other lands were led to Christ. 
The great denominations withdrew and proposed to take up the 
work in their home mission societies. As a result they have drop- 
ped it and the work has dropped out of sight ; and the leading men 
of every denomination, with rare exceptions, are willing it 3hould 
stay out of sight. Let us not be surprised. The efibrt to cause 
truth to lower its flag to error began with the race and will continue 
to the end of time. It found in Eden a victory, when Eve surren- 
dered, and in the wilderness a defeat, when Clmst said : "Get thee 
hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 
and him only shalt thou serve." 

If the church shall do its duty towards Romanists, attention must 
be called to the needs of this people, and great enthusiasm will be 
necessary to carry on the work. Roman Catholics in this land are ill 
at ease. No one wants to be burned, and yet Romanism teaches 
that even the good must land in purgatory, while for the bad 
masses are said, if money is provided, and so between the two ex- 
tremes there is only safety in turning from Mary and the church 
to Christ, who is the way and the truth and the life. 

2. The c/iarader of the work to be undertaken demands 
combination of effort iit this diredioiz. 

It is not popular. The majority in the church cry : Give us a 
rest. Roman Catholics, they say, have a church ; they worship 
Christ; they are sincere; let them alone. "The only objedlion 



PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 357 

which an American can have to the Roman CathoHc church is that 
it is a foreign church. No broad-minded Christian will quarrel 
with the forms of Romanism, even though he does not believe in 
them. To say that it is not as much a Christian church as any of 
the Protestant denominations are is downright nonsense." ( Denver 
Republican, June 28, 1887.) 

This remark, or something kindred to it, is made in the east and 
in the west. To head against this influence and to do the necessary 
work requires union of hearts and of hands. There are some in 
every church and in every community whose eyes have been opened. 
They see the strides Romanism is making, and they are ready to 
co-operate in working out reforms that every intelligent man knows 
are demanded by the incursion to our shores of alien classes and by 
the meddlesomeness of the church of Rome in the political affairs 
of our country. 

The providences of God show that the United States was not 
planted and peopled to subserve the purposes of the crosier, but of 
the cross. Here God's word has rule and sway. It is the basis of 
our jurisprudence. It is the pledge of our progress and the un- 
furled banner of our hopes. Somebody must tell the truth concern- 
ing the anti-scriptural character of Romanism, the Man of Sin. As 
no one is willing to do it, the Pauline Propaganda enters upon the 
work. 

It is instructive to gaze upon the fountain source of a great river, 
whose waters give life and fertility to a continent. We delight to 
look upon a bruised and battered flag-ship that has passed through 
the tempest of battle with a man like Farragut lashed to its spar 
and triumph inscribed upon its colors. It is a grander sight to study 
the face of a soldier who in battle was the incarnation of high resolve 
and fearless daring, and whose genius, foresight and skill have wrested 
vi(5tory from the enemy and brought forth his battalions with lines 
unbroken and with purpose undaunted, their flag riddled with shot, 
yet flushed with the radiance of hope. But grander than sight of 
fountain, of warship or of soldier is the face of a man like Paul, 
who, with a passion for souls in his heart, plans to permeate the 
world with his influence, and lives and dies that Christ may be 
preached and souls may be saved. The secret of such power lies in 
the fa6t that through him and by him the life of Christ was lived 



35^ PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 

among men. It is possible to stand with God and for the truth. 
Kings have come and kings have gone, yet the record Paul made in 
Rome is essential to the needs of the vv^orld at this hour. Into Rome 
he went, not to be carried on the arms of an all-embracing love, but 
to plant the standard of Christ Jesus on the. battlements in sight of 
the pagan world, and preach Christ and him crucified to the lost and 
the undone. 

Rome was then at the zenith of its greatness. It was the founda- 
tion and centre of commercial and political power. So great is its 
antiquity that one of its common titles is the Eternal City. St. 
Augustine, Fla., the oldest town in the United States, is more than 
2300 years younger than Rome. Its population was reckoned by 
millions. In 48 A. D., the census gives 5,984,000. It was abbut 
twice the present size of London when Paul entered it, when it was 
the capital of a population of ,120,000,000, inhabiting nearly all the 
known world. 

Behold the great apostle and his manner of life. He tells the 
truth. He does not plan nor try to cover up or evade the conse- 
quences. He simply preaches the gospel, and they send him from 
capital to capital, from court to court, from prison to prison, until 
at last, through perils by land and sea, he stands in the city of Rome 
wearing a chain. It was a great fa(5l in history, that Paul won a 
place for Jesus Christ in the heart of the world's capital. Do you 
realize the extent, the dominion and the influence of Rome? Paul 
feared not to enter it, though it was full of enemies and he was without 
a friend, and unfurl the standard of the cross. Rome had then a 
standing army of 400,000 and a navy of 50,000. By its conquests 
the way of the Lord had been prepared. Its roads, the universality 
of its language, made it possible to preach the gospel in all lands. 

Today, as we look back, there is no event identified with Roman 
history which rises superior in importance to the coming and the 
preaching of this man of God — this unfurling of the banner. There 
is none in the present. The fire was kindled at the base of the social 
edifice, and it went up and on until it passed the steps of the throne, 
penetrated the abodes of wealth, and leavened the masses with the 
principles of the gospel. 

This work is being done again. Millions were led to Christ and 
passed on to heaven. What has been may be again. Let us pray 



PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 



359 



as never before for the workers at Rome. When Paul entered Rome 
there were but two religions in the Roman world — the worship of 
the emperor and the worship of the Saviour. Substitute the pope 
for the emperor, and you describe the two religions at this hour. 
Let us hold up Christ as they hold up the pope, and we shall witness 
the mighty power of God. The fa6t that Christendom unites in 
sending missionaries and Bible readers to Rome proves conclusively 
that Christendom ought to unite in working for the salvation of 
Romanists about them. Would we be as indefatigable and as wise 
in seeking to reach Romanists here as there, we might win many 
trophies for the Master. 

Thousands about us feel that they need something better than the 
superstitions and delusions that characterize the teachings of her 
priests and schools. The Roman Catholic church dares not trust her 
membership with control. The civil lav*^ and the canon law are in 
antagonism. The people that give the money have no control of 
the management of the same. It is ours to tell them of their rights. 

Evangelical denominations may bow down to Rome, but Rome 
iights them, one and all, and ignores their rights or tramples on them 
with impunity, while she seeks the subversion of our liberties, the 
overthrow of the republic and the substitution of a despotism of 
which the pope is to be the head. Say this. Moral cowardice is 
always a mistake. In this free land a man cannot be a true Ameri- 
can when his opinions, faithfully expressed, shall cause him to 
tremble. It may be his duty to die for the truth's sake. It never 
can be his duty to live at the cost of its betrayal. This nation is 
God's heritage for freedom. It is our duty to make it free and keep 
it free. The people should be taught to believe in free speech, and 
should resist all attempts to make them walk with bated breath, as 
travelers climb the paths of St. Bernard with hushed voices and 
silent tread, lest the echoes born of indiscretion creep up the 
mountain, topple off the snow-flake and bring down the avalanche. 
The rule of repression or of suppression is not American. Shutting 
down on truth and bolstering up a lie is poor business, now and al- 
ways. Strong, sturdy, manly speech is always in order. Let us 
have it more and more. The broad banner of Christianity should at 
once be unfurled, and all who are not of Rome should immediately 
rally about it. This banner is not the signal for sanguinary battles, 



360 PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 

for ruined cities and countries, and for the sacrifice of human life. 
Its victories are bloodless, because it conquers through the might of 
truth. 

Without combination, little or nothing will be attempted or ac- 
complished. The leaven leavens the meal when it is put into it. 
Romanists are converted when they are approached in kindness and 
the truth is spoken to them in love. 

The Pauline Propaganda recognizes the facl that all cannot en- 
gage in this work of seeking the conversion of Romanists or resist- 
ing the aggressions of Romanism. The business relations sustained 
prevent some or render it very unpleasant for them to speak. Min- 
isters in fashionable churches are restrained by a public sentim.ent 
which it is difficult to ignore, and which it is necessary to counteract 
and if possible remove. Some there are who can undertake it. 
They can preach and they do preach, and their word is attended 
with power. Others, who cannot speak or distribute tracts, can 
place their funds at the disposal of the organization and can permit 
their voice to be heard . 

In this as in everything else, there must be men, fanatical if you 
please, who will put their souls into the work because the woe is on 
them if they preach not the gospel to Romanists. These will have 
a passion for souls. They will see the lost and undone, and will 
follow them to the realm of night and pain. They will seek not theirs 
but them, will seek not only to save the population to liberty but to 
work for the redemption of their souls. Assure Romanists of love, 
not of hate. Abuse them not, and spare them not, but tell them the 
truth in the fidelity which characterized our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 

Romanists are in peril because they are being left without the 
truth. The Bible is denied them. The gospel is not jDreached 
in their hearing, and they are going on without God and without 
hope. Think not our skirts will be clean from the blood of souls, 
if we do not preach to those next to us the gospeL Do you say the 
gospel is preached from their pulpits ? In this you are right and 
you are wrong. A portion of the gospel is preached, and yet it 
contains dogmas which mutilate if they do not destroy it. 

In the preaching of Romanists are : (a) Baptismal regeneration. 
All sins are believed to be remitted or washed away in baptism, (b) 



PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 36 1 

Mass and the office work of the priest — a man-made Christ and a sin- 
ful administrator to take the place of the God-man, lifted up that the 
world might be drawn unto him. "If any shall deny that in the sacra- 
ment of the most holy eucharist there is contained, truly, really and 
substantially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, 
of Jesus Christ, let him be accursed." So says the council of Trent. 
Thus do they give to a created being the respecl, adoration and love 
which are due to God alone. This is idolatr) , and a positive viola- 
tion of the second commandment, which reads : "Thou shaltnot make 
unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in 
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water 
under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, 
nor sei*\'e them ; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the 
iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth 
generation." 

J. The chara6ier of Romaiiism makes it the duty of all to as- 
sist in its disrziptio7z and destrzidiion. 

Romanists, unconverted and unenlightened, are a peril to the 
state and to liberty. Romanism is a foreign despotism, set up with 
all its machinery and potential power in the heart of the republic. 
Either liberty must die that Rome may live, or Rome must surren- 
der to Christ that liberty may thrive. This the average citizen can 
be made to understand. Error received brings forth fruit. It is not 
enough to preach the truth without uprooting error. As well 
might a man sow wheat upon unprepared soil. The fallow ground 
must be broken up, and Romanism must be unroofed and uncovered, 
and this the Pauline Propaganda is organized to do. An uplifted 
Christ is a conquering Saviour. Romanists are brought to the light 
when the light is carried to Romanists. 

Abuse has been tried and it has not availed. The shafts of ridi- 
cule have fallen harmless as quivers of arrows emptied upon 
Gibraltar. Let us try love. The fable of the sun and wind striv- 
ing to cause the traveler to loosen his cloak illustrates the thought. 
The wind blew, and he but hugged it the tighter. The sun made 
him lay it aside. The constraining love of Jesus is now in order. Rev. 
J. N. Murdock, D. D., tells of his Irish girl who was refused money 
by the priest to bring her kindred across the sea. She found it at 
the parsonage, and it opened her eyes to the selfishness of a church 



362 PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 

ranking high as a universal beggar, which makes way with all 
its gifts in the underground channels of its selfishness. The poor 
are not helped in the church of Rome. 

4. The "doork is timely. 

The hand of the priest is interfering with the dearest rights of 
freemen as never before. Pio Nono said : "The only country 
where I am really pope is the United States of America." This 
is true, because there is so much of freedom we do not think of the 
peril resulting from this foreign despotism. As never before, it 
begins to be understood that there has got to be an adjustment of 
Romanism to the free life of our institutions or there has got to be a 
breaking up of the system. 

The celibacy of the clergy, the convent system, the opposition to 
the best and highest education of the youth of the country, are 
producing alarming results. Society is being honeycombed with 
doubt, and gross darkness envelops the people. Behind Sabbath 
profanation and loose views in regard to morality and honest)^, is the 
influence of Romanism. Prisons and poor-houses do not help 
Romanists. We need the old-fashioned colporteur and Bible reader. 
Women in their homes must preach to women. Men must hold up 
Christ to men. Thousands feel that they are negle6led and ignored. 
Let the enthusiasm which once held the old crusader come on us, 
and Ave will work for souls. Remember, in the war of the crusades, 
Douglas the leader, the knight-errant, casting into the midst of 
the foe the heart of his king, and then following it, with the shout, 
"The heart of Bruce !" Think of Christ dying for these, and par- 
take of his spirit and share his work. 

J". A.re we ready for the work? 

It is a great thing to be ready. Paul wrote this epistle from 
Corinth. He was safe in Corinth ; he was girded with the love 
of the church. In Rome there was peril. Paul was ready to con- 
front it, that he might reach men and women in the broad road to 
ruin. 

See Paul in Rome. He had no pulpit and no following. Day 
after day he was chained to a soldier. He embraced the opportunity 
to preach the truth to the man next to him. The words were winged 
with power. One after another was led to Christ. The influence 
of the gospel proclaimed crept up the steps of Nero's palace, en- 



PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 363 

tered the throne-room, and led some of those about the emperor to 
the embracing of the truth as it is in Jesus. The days were dark. 
True followers of Christ were few. Yet the gospel won its way, 
and will do it again. "For the word of God is quick and powerful, 
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing 
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a 
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." 

The Pauline Propaganda fights the absurdity that it is no matter 
what you believe so that you are honest about it. The time has 
come for Christian people to avow as a certainty that a false faith 
cannot save the soul. "For there is none other name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved ; neither is there salva- 
tion in any other." Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead, 
is the only and sure hope of a lost sinner. There is an infallible 
standard. A go-as-you-please religion is the curse of this time and 
of all times. Satan desires and can find nothing better with which 
to delude and destroy. 

Between Romanism and Romanists there is a marked discrimina- 
tion to be made. The one represents the errors of paganism and 
of Judaism, combined with the ripened results of an unregenerate 
heart given over to the control of that power that robbed Eden of its 
glory, and has in every age worked to oppose the truth and retard 
the spread of the gospel and the extension of the area of the kingdom 
of God. The latter are our fellow travelers to the judgment bar of 
God. They are near us. Many of them are in our homes. Error 
imperils them. Truth is their hope, and it must be told them, cost 
w^hat it may. Some tell us that nothing can be done for the conver- 
sion of Romanists. All history disproves this, and shows that there 
is nothing too hard for God. Think of Rome under the shadow of 
a Nero's sceptre, and yet Paul permeated it with the influence of an 
uplifted cross and tore from the bastions of error some of its towers 
of strength. His propaganda was of righteousness, of truth and of 
the judgment to come. Think of the Rome Paul saw. It was the 
largest and most magnificent capital of the earth. In this Eternal 
City was planted a church whose faith was spoken of throughout the 
world. 

In faith is the key by which the citadel of error may be unlocked, 
and every Christian can take it as God's gift and wield it for God's 



3^4 PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 

glory and man's good. Romanists do not know this. Tell them 
of it. 

God's word says that if any man shall add unto the words of the 
prophecy of this book, God shall add unto him the plagues that are 
written in the book. Rome adds to the Holy Scriptures certain 
^'unwritten traditions" and receives and reverences them with equal 
piety and veneration, and so brings upon itself the plagues written 
in the book. Warn Romanists of their peril. 

The word of God says: "If any man shall take away from the 
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part 
out of the book of life." Rome not only drops out of the Bible the 
second commandment, which condemns papal idolatry, but takes 
from the people the Bible as a book, and leaves them to grope their 
way down to ruin, without the light kindled to irradiate their path 
with hope. 

Somebody must say this, wdiile we can speak it and where it can 
be proclaimed, or the blood of lost souls w^ill be found in the skirts 
of the garments of the Christian church. Stout hearts and clear 
brains are needed. 

Romanists believe in seven sacraments. The word of God gives 
us two — baptism and the Lord's supper. 

Rome teaches the bodily and substantial presence of Christ in- 
stead of his "real but spiritual presence," making foolishness of the 
words of Christ, who said of the bread, "This is my body," while 
he stood before them, evidently meaning and teaching, "This bread 
typifies or symbolizes my body, and this wine my blood." On the 
contrary, the corporeal or substantial presence of Christ carries with 
it monstrous consequences — such as that the body of Christ can be 
here and on the mediatorial throne ; that it can be eaten by wicked 
persons or even by beasts — and is utterly irreconcilable with the 
scriptural doctrine, that the body of Christ is received by faith. 
For "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in 
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." 

Rome deprives her membership of the wine that typifies the blood 
of Christ. Jesus commanded to drink it in remembrance of him. 

Rome claims that the priest may do violence to virtue and to 
honesty, may commit any sin, and yet be a representative of God, 
and that no layman sins by obeying him. 



PAULINE PROPAGANDA. 365 

Errors inniiraerable are to be refuted and exposed. They are 
lovers of themselves. They are covetous. Are they not? vSee how 
they beggar their people and enrich tiie machine. They are without 
natural atiection. No wife-love is enjoyed in Rome as outside of 
it. They are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge 
of the truth. 

Our duty is plain. VVe must introduce them to Christ, or they 
are lost. This work all can undertake. Personal experience is of 
the utmost value. Tell them what God has done for your soul. 
Rouse the Christian element. There are those in all the churches 
in sympathy with this work. They are the main sources of hope. 
A mighty, powerful, searching revival is next in order. Let us pray 
for it and work for it, and it will come. 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO, 



"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for th}r 
people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have cor- 
rupted themselves : they have turned aside quickly out of the way 
which I commanded them ; tlicy have made them a molten calf, 
and have worshiped it, e.v.d have sacrificed thereunto, and said. 
These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the 
land of Egypt." Exodus 33 : 7, 8. 

Israel was in revolt. That people who had been redeemed from 
a terrible slavery, who had seen the first-born of Egj'pt slain, who 
had passed through the waters of the Red sea dry-shod, who had 
walked beneath a sheltering cloud by day and under a pillar of flame 
by night, had turned aside, made an idol and v^orshiped it, and ut- 
terly ignored and insulted the Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac and 
of Jacob. It was a terrible moment for God. It must be hard for 
God to bear with man's ingratitude, with his forgetfulness, with his 
stupidity. History repeats itself. The nature of man is unchanged. 
It is needful that God be God — that there should be in this universe 
one infinitely wise, good and uncompromising Being, who sees the 
end from the beginning, with whom is no variableness, neither 
sliadow of turning. God saw Israel bowing down to a calf. He 
sa^v himself insulted and dishonored. He called to Moses, who had 
been permitted to behold the majesty and glory revealed on Sinai, 
and told him all, and said : "Now let me alone, that my wrath may 
wax hot and that I may consume them." This was Moses' tempta- 
tion. He was true to God and to the purpose formed in his heart 
of delivering Israel, though they had betrayed God and had ignored 
their deliverances, and forgotten what, with a high hand and an out- 
stretched arm, he had wrought for them. 

The fool-hardiness and short-sightedness of the Israelites is only 
matched by those negroes who have turned their backs on the God 
w^ho redeemed them, broke the chains of their galling captivity and 
delivered them from a life-long bondage. It was God who delivered 



2f6S ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 

the negro, as it was God who wrought redemption for Israel. 
It was idolatr}^ then that enticed the people ; it is idolatry now. 

This brings us to the effort made to take the negro away from God 
to idolatry — to the idolatry of Rome. The story of the endeavor 
we need not give. A few fa els deserve to be remembered. At tlie 
close of the war, in 1865, when every evangelical church addressed 
its energies to providing for the wants of the freedmen, the Roman 
Catholic church bestirred herself to take the field. . In London a 
company of missionaries was ordained for this work ; and prior to 
their going, Cardinal Manning washed their feet and kissed them 
and sent them forth. Black priests and nuns began to appear. In 
Washington a magnificent church was built for the colored people. 
In various parts of the country the attempt v^as made to seduce them 
from the path of righteousness to tread a way darkened and over- 
shadowed by superstition. 

It is now claimed that there are 500,000 colored Catholics in this 
country. There must have been as many as that at the close of the 
war, when the colored people in Louisiana, and vast numbers in 
Maryland and elsewhere, were claimed by the Roman Catholic 
church. They now have churches and schools in New York, Balti- 
more, Washington, Richmond, Petersburgh, Lexington, Louisville, 
St. Louis, Cincinnati, San Antonio, Charleston, Memphis and St. 
Paul. This is all they claim. 

I. The negro race has no ttse for Romanism. 

Emancipated from the bondage of chattel slavery, of all classes it 
-would seem natural for the negro to refuse to bow his neck to the 
yoke of the most crushing despotism. Romanism is the tap-root of 
tyranny. From the pojDC, who recognized the Southern Confederacy, 
whose corner-stone was human slavery, down through cardinals, 
archbishops, bishops and priests, there was not one who championed 
liberty. Could they have had their way, every black man had now 
been a bondman. 

The recent convention in Washington, presided over by the red- 
robed cardinal, to which colored delegates were invited from the 
■entire country, was Rome's notification to the nation of a purpose to 
capture the negro ; not to help, bless or ennoble him, but to keep him 
in ignorance and to fetter him with the chains of a degrading servi- 
tude. Rome delights to pose as a philanthropist. Be not deceived. 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 369 

Her history belles her profession, and makes her pretension appear 
like a sham and a subterfuge. Professedly, she proposes to blot 
out the lines of social equality, and opens the Roman Catholic 
church to all alike. The offer is taking, if the reality be a mockery. 

Think of what Rome offers — a bare floor to kneel on ; a hard seat 
to sit upon ; a cellar or a garret to live in, while cardinals and 
archbishops are housed in palaces ; worship in a foreign tongue, 
which no one understands ; an avariciousness which is unmatched, 
in which the hard earnings of the poor are captured for masses and 
for deliverance from jDurgatory, all of which is known to be a getting 
of money under false pretenses ; and, finally, a carte-blanchc to go 
to hell without let or hindrance. Rome helps no one, but hinders 
all she can. She sees men in ignorance, and seeks to render them 
contented. She looks upon their poverty as a benefaction instead 
of a bane, and makes them poorer rather than richer. She sees them 
in sin and gives them indulgences to continue therein, v/hile they de- 
scend into the depths of shame. She adopts the forms of heathenism, 
and makes the carnal heart content, while resisting the will of God. 

Rome is wary and full of wiles. Orphanages have been estab- 
lished at Cincinnati and Kansas City, and there are several convents 
for negro nuns, two of which are at St. Louis, two at Baltimore and 
one at New Orleans. There are two orders of nuns in this country 
composed entirely of colored women. The Oblate Sisters of Prov- 
idence have the mother house at Baltimore, with branches in dif- 
ferent parts of the country. There is but one negro priest. Rev. 
Augustine Tolton of Quincy, 111. There is one Catholic newspaper, 
published in Cincinnati, edited by Daniel A. Rudd, the originator 
of the convention. 

It was confidently believed that the appearance of the red-robed 
cardinal in the church of St. Augustine, in Washington, would exert 
a great influence upon the colored people. Not unless the colored 
people have lost their heads as well as their hearts. Though Father 
Tolton celebrated high mass, with a great orchestral accompaniment ; 
though Cardinal Gibbons occupied the throne, and other dignitaries 
assisted in the service, the negro will be quick to dete6l the decep- 
tion attempted to be pra6liced upon him. His fathers wore one fet- 
ter. The hateful memory will make the children dread the lash, 
even if the whip be held by the hand of a priest. 



37^ ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 

Today the negro is on the \erge of a new order of events. The 
party that dehvered him from bondage has once more been entrusted 
with power. The promise is that the ballot of the negro sluili be 
counted, and that the black man shall be permitted to re-appear in 
the place from which the enemies of freedom have deposed him. 
The Lord God may be hidden, but his eye is on them. The true 
shall have help. They were brought out of Egypt because the 
Canaan of promise lies just bevond. 

2. Rome purposes to capture the 7iegro. 

Three great principles underlie her rule here and everywhere — to 
keep her people ignorant, to keep them poor and to keep them 
obedient. These are the ingredients of human slavery. The right 
of one man to hold another man in servitude for his whole life, and 
to retain as slaves the children that are born of a slave father and 
a slave mother, is taught and justified b}' the Roman Catholic 
church. Because of this underlying principle, Pio Nono was against 
the emancipation of the slaves, and alone, of all the potentates of the 
earth, boldly and openly recognized the Southern Confederacy, 
whose boasted corner-stone was human slavery. Perhaps the col- 
ored people bowing down to the idolatries of Rome will refuse to 
believe this. But Father Gury, the instructor of the Jesuits, says : 

539* Question — Can a man have the right of ownership of an- 
other man? 

Answer — A man can by natural rights sell himself for life to an- 
other man as useful property. Slavery, or perpetual subjection, by 
which one disposes of all of one's work to another, in exchange for 
food, is not in principle contrary to natural rights. 

540. ig. — What are the titles to slavery? 

A. — They come from birth in slavery, because by right those born 
from slaves are slaves themselves. 

541. ^. — Is the slave trade permitted? 

A. — It is absolutely forbidden, and contrary to all rights. But 
if it is a question of negroes or others being in legitimate slavery, In 
principle it is not absolutely forbidden, because, admitting slaveiy to 
be legitimate, the master has a legitimate right over his slaves and 
their work, and so it follows that he may transmit it to others. 

These do6lrines darken the negro's sky in the southland at this 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 37l 

hour. Millions there believe in slavery, and would gladly welcome 
the aid of Rome in re-establishing it. 

The first quarter of a century has closed since the Proclamation of 
Emancipation secured the freedom of every slave held in bondage in 
the United States of America. The nation made the black man her 
ward, and, by laws placed on the statute-books, through territorial 
sovereignty and in other ways, sought to place the negro on a foot- 
ing of equality with the citizens of the republic. It is not the fault 
of the northern states that the negro in the south is not in the enjoy- 
ment of every blessing and privilege possessed by the Irish, Germans 
and other foreigners in the north. 

The result has been a disappointment. At the outset, black men 
were ele6ted to congress, to the legislature and even to the senate 
of the United States. They appeared in the departments ; they were 
recognized in the law, in medicine and in the ministry, as sharers 
in the government and as fadlors in the state. The negro was not a 
failure in politics. His old enemy feared him. 

A negro uses this language concerning his race : "Let us fairly ex- 
amine the negro's situation, in the country at large, for the last twenty- 
five years. Nobody denies the great change in his position and con- 
dition, within about that time. His achievements and accomplish- 
ments, claimed by himself and many friends, have, we fear, been 
overstated. And now there are others who were friends, rather 
sympathizers with him, twenty-five years ago, as well as many think- 
ing negroes, who fancy they have room and evidence for grave ap- 
prehension for his fitness for citizenship, for a final home in his na- 
tive land." "Are these fears entertained from proper investiga- 
tion ? Undoubtedly their wealth, as a whole, has been foolishly and 
falsely stated and exaggerated, I think. I believe also from observation 
and some knowledge of fa6ls concerning the race's interests, that 
the standards of fitness, of manliness and probity, the disposition and 
ability for acquisitiveness, in true education, the faculty for acquir- 
ing scientific knowledge and practical accomplishments, that de- 
monstrate a brain in man, in the negro have been, from very obvious 
reasons, hidden, ill-appreciated and excluded, by numbers of his own 
race and probably by most white people." 

Thus writes a negro. The words do not do the race honor. 

It is not fair to say that provision was made in Boston or in the 



372 ROMANISM AKD THE NEGRO. 

north to treat him as a thing rather than as a man and a citizen. 
If any mistake was made, it was in granting him the ballot before 
he was fitted for it by education and experience. The nation is 
too free with its ballots. No foreigner, no negro, no anybody, 
should be permitted to vote unless he can read the constitution of 
the United States and write in a legfible wav. 

Provision was made in the north to open every avenue for his ad- 
vancement. If he was educated apart, if his teachers did not rank 
as high as those who ministered to the white children, it was because 
he v/as ambitious to be all and in all to his own people. Col- 
ored schools in the north were fought by many true philanthropists, 
who believed that all the children of the state should be educated 
together and that all should worship together. Colored churches 
have been a hindrance rather than a help. They ought to be 
churches. If the majority wants a colored minister, let him be se- 
cured ; if a white minister, let him serve all alike. Tremont 
Temple in Boston and the Centennial church in Brooklyn wxre or- 
ganized with this end in view. In both, the colored people were 
as welcome as the whites. 

It is said: "An endeavor has been made to prepare the negro 
for a world to come, to the neglecl of fitting him to be a citizen of 
his native home." That is untrue, so far as the Christians of the 
north are concerned. Fit a man for the world to come and he is 
fitted for this world. God makes no mistakes. A Christian is not 
a scoundrel nor a liar nor a chicken thief. Keep it in jour mind. 

The tribute paid to the Roman Catholic church shows how blind 
are many of the leaders of the colored people, and how easily they 
are deceived. Let us rejoice that the common people hear Christ 
gladly. Very few have been captured by Rome. They have, as a 
rule, been grateful for the favors bestowed upon them. They rec- 
ognize the fad: that schools have been planted in the south by the 
various evangelical denominations, and paths have been opened for 
them into a world from wdiich Romanism would bar them as it 
bars all its vi6iims. Negroes see this, and refuse nuns and religious 
brothers as teachers in their schools. The trouble is that the negro, 
if not true to truth, is not true to himself. 

At the outset, I did all in my power to open every avenue to 
colored men. In the presence of thousands of them, among whom 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 373 

were many of their leaders, I used this language: "Colored men 
must help themselves, if they ever expe6l to receive aid that will 
stay and bless. It is all well for Ethiopia to stretch out her hands 
for help. She would better use them to provide for her own ne- 
cessities. A pauper spirit curses any man or nation. Negroes, like 
everybody else, must hew out their path, to position and to ennobling 
success." As Abraham Lincoln said, we have given them their 
chance and ''''They 7i2ust root^ ^^^S^-) or die^^^ referring to a drove of 
swine turned into a field of potatoes which they must dig or starve. 

Every effort w^as made to induce them to compete as carpenters, 
as blacksmiths, as farmers, as merchants ; but how miserably they 
have failed. There is hardly one great business in the United 
States under the control and management of colored people, and 
they have only themselves to blame. Success comes from suc- 
ceeding, not from complaining nor from dreaming. People buy 
where they can get the best quality at the cheapest price ; they hire 
workmen that can do their work well and are reliable. The door 
is open to the negro as to everybody. Let him enter it. 

The Christian church has discharged her duty. This negro uses 
this language, to pander to Rome and to stab the Christian peoj^le 
who have stood by the black men. He says : "A church calling- 
itself Christian, that is not w^ide enough for all the representatives 
of the human family speaking the same tongue, I think cannot 
be of Christ's authority ; and one so darkened that it will create 
a light not bright enough to illumine all mankind — that will not 
shine upon the barbarian and the Gentile — is too cloudy and narrow 
for the indwelling of the Christian spirit." True, but supposing 
the negro will not adapt himself to circumstances? 

Tremont Temple was purchased and held that it might give wel- 
come to the blacks as to the whites. The colored people have been 
treated with as great kindness there as have white people, and yet 
colored people have done but very little for the suppoit of that great 
beneficent charity. 

In Brooklyn the Centennial Baptist church purchased a great 
building and opened it to the colored people as widely as to the 
whites. The colored ministry opposed the movement, contended 
for colored churches, and fought all efforts to induce white people 
to fraternize with the blacks. The caste spirit finds its fountain 



374 ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 

source more in the hearts of the blacks than in those of the whites. 

The same in regard to schools. In Brooklyn, N. Y., I fought 
out the battle to have the colored children attend the public schools, 
and yet the colored people insisted upon keeping up colored schools, 
that colored teachers might get employment. For years I have 
agreed with the negro who says : "1 believe, further, that the fos- 
tering of such principles and practices — the patronizing of separate 
institutions, scholastic, religious and political, the hot-beds of 
caste — is a blot upon our republican institutions, and blasphemy 
against him who seeks to guide all believers into the true path." 

Can the colored people stand it? To do this, theirheart "must 
be lifted up in the ways of the Lord." We know that the negro 
proved his manhood at Fort Pillow, at Fort Wagner, where "Col. 
Shaw was buried with his niggers," and in Virginia wdien B. F. 
Butler rejoiced as he sav/ them breast the storm of shot and shell and 
snatch vidiory out of the grasp of defe at. That was well for war 
times. Peace demands victories. There is significance in the 
events of this and of all hours. The thing is to see it and know it 
and act in accordance with it. The necessity is laid on the men of 
color to fulfil the expectations of their friends. A round and full 
manhood is the requirement of the hour. The dream of progress 
for the bright young men and young women of color is to be per- 
mitted to mJngle with the best and the noblest without a thought as 
to the hue of the skin. "Abraham Lincoln," said Frederick Doug- 
lass, "permitted me to forget that I was black and feel simply this, 
that I was a man." That is one side. Probably Abraham Lincoln 
saw in Frederick Douglass a man who forgot his color and remem- 
bered only the cause he championed. For years he had been out- 
growing the color of his skin and had been coming into the develop- 
ment of such magnificent power as orator, as statesman and as cul- 
tured gentleman, that men do not associate Frederick Douglass 
with his race, but lift him to the citizenship of America. 

The key to prosperity is to be obtained by an adoption of the code 
of morals furnished by the word of God. It is because God does 
not die but live, in the darkness as in the light, and watches from 
on high to reward honesty and integrity and to frown upon trickery 
and fraud, that nothing is surely settled until it is settled right. It 
becomes the people to fear God and not to be afraid to obey him. 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 375 

The Bible contains rules for trades and for the transa6lion of all kinds 
of business. Christianity teaches honesty as well as piety. It makes 
a man a good citizen when it makes him a good Christian. 

The colored people must assert their rights, and, having done 
this, they must have the courage to maintain them. Their destiny 
in the north, as in the south, is committed to their own hands. 
There is no reason why the 30,000 negroes in the city of New 
York should be written down as forming a plague-spot on the map 
of the city which has given them a home. A recent writer, after 
speaking highly of Rev. Dr. Garnett and some other ministers, says : 
''The African race are not doing half so well as might be expedted, 
considering that they have been ceded every possible privilege one 
can reasonably hope to enjoy in a free country. Few can do more 
than read and write a little, though excellent schools are open to 
them. They seem to hate the labor and drudgery indispensable to 
study. They do not invest much in books. They read the news- 
papers a little ; but, as a rule, intelledlually, they waste their time." 

Their moral condition is something fearful to contemplate. 
"There are those who live a strictly moral life, but they are few and 
far between, and, as a rule, are found among the elderly negroes 
who were once slaves. The rising generation are ruining them- 
selves body and soul. Drunkenness is on the increase and midnight 
revelry is indulged in without restraint. In the 20th and 8th wards 
negro life is very much degraded. Groups of negroes of every 
shade of complexion hang around lager beer saloons day and night, 
engaged in drunken brawls and shocking the sensibilities with 
blasphemous oaths and imprecations. Human life and property are 
insecure. The hard working and temperate negroes are in the 
minority. Though colored churches abound, it is doubted if much 
good is done by them. Superstitious pra6tices influence manv of 
them, and, with rare exceptions, their idea of Christian piety is but 
a mockery of religion as taught in the New Testament." 

There is no good reason why the blacks of the north should occupy 
their present position. It is said that the lash of the slave-driver 
takes out the manhood from the black man. Their years of free- 
dom should have brought to the front leaders who could not be en- 
slaved and who would not be cowed. The colored people have 
made great mistakes. They are making them in New York. They 



37^ ROMANISM AND. THE NEGRO. 

are clannish. They are not as true to those who are true to them 
as they should be. They are not as true to themselves as they ought 
to be. 

Never do I see a negro making a sign-board of himself without a 
feeling of pity mingled with contempt. When, in vSaratoga, I saw 
the hotels filled with colored waiters, and knew that the meeting for 
the colored people was not held until after nine o'clock at night, 
because then their services closed as waiters, and when I looked on 
their faces as they came to the meeting, I confess to a feeling of dis- 
couragement I never knew before. If I did not know that every 
curse was removed by the death of Christ, I should be inclined to 
believe in the dodtrine enunciated by those who trace the misfortunes 
of the race back to the curse which came upon Canaan, the son of 
Ham. 

The colored people are not, in general, as thrifty, as self-respe(5ting, 
as they ought to be in the free north. The colored churches do not 
train their people for high citizenship as they ought. The colored 
people are shut out of homes and of places of trust, because of their 
servile tendencies. There is no reason why, as mechanics, as farm- 
ers, as teachers, as writers, the way is not open before them. They 
must assert themselves and stand for their rights or else lose them. 
There are colored men and women of magnificent ability, in the 
north and in the south, who deserve to be made of by the free col- 
ored people of the north. 

There are difficulties in the path of the colored people. It is easier 
to shrink back than to go forward. The influence of prejudice is 
terrible. In the zoological gardens of Paris there is a network of 
wire over the trees which furnishes a cage for the eagles. As a re- 
sult, the eagles never fly. Colored men and women, you have an 
open way to God. He has heard you, has blessed you and is stand- 
ing by you. Stand by your own interests. 

They lack general culture. The many, without these helps, are 
going back to barbarism. Bishop Wilmer says : "Among the evil 
agencies, the most mischievous is that of the colored preachers, 
many of whom disown the Bible as a rule of morality for their race." 

One of the most alarming facls that confronts me is that the col- 
ored people are not alarmed. The negroes cannot be held up by 
the whites. No man, no communit3^ no church, can be sustained 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 377 

by outside help. It must be inward life that gives hope of promise. 
Suppose they cannot be aroused ? Then at once they strike out of 
their sky the star of hope, and the encouragement to do well disap- 
pears. They sink into an inferior condition in society and are branded 
with the terrible insignia of caste. They close the path to progress, 
and bar themselves out from the realms of an ennobling citizenship. 
They admit that the southern theory is corred, and that they are 
not of our blood and have no rights which white people are bound 
to respe6l. 

Are colored people ready for this ? If not, then let them rouse 
themselves. See to it that culture comes to the front ; that educa- 
tion is treated as a necessity. The people of the north are willing- 
to give them a free field and a fair chance. The people of the south 
cannot afi:brd to have them occupy a position of inferiority. 
The colored people must refuse to occupy it. There is nothing- 
of aspiration for universal man which is not within the reach of well- 
directed efibrt. Wherever man exists advancement may be made. 

At West Point there are terrible discouragements. Caste has 
been monarch. The negro feels it, and draws back because of it. 
Let him rather press forward. His opportunity is here. A dis- 
tinguished general, one identified with the persecution and hardship 
of poor Whittaker, was pleased to say : "The education and eleva- 
tion of the newly enfranchised race is a work worthy of the united 
efforts of all good citizens. But that work cannot be advanced — it 
must rather be retarded— by forcing colored men into official posi- 
tions for which they have not yet become duly qualified, or into 
social relations where they cannot be freely welcomed." That is 
possibly true. But in society the colored man is his own enemy, 
and fails, not because of what others do to him, but because of what 
he does for himself. A talented colored man was welcomed and 
almost feted because of his talents, until it was found that he 
lacked qualities which distinguish real manhood. It is what a man 
is within that determines his standing in the world, whether he 
be black or white. 

The attempt has been made to drive the negro out of politics, out 
of the army and out of association with the whites in the Christian 
church. To God and to the friends of the negro he must look for 
help, for opening a path to a field where he can be and do all in his 



^'jS ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 

• 

power. The attempt to disparage the African as inferior to other 
men, except in servile conditions, is being made. The negro must 
reveal staying qualities. Humboldt well said: "No people are in 
themselves nobler than others. All men are brothers of the same 
human family, with superficial and transitional differences only." 
Charles Sumner declared, "No differences can make one color 
superior to another." 

Looking carefully at the African in the seclusion and isolation of 
his native home, w^e see sufficient reason for that condition which is 
the chief argument against him. It is doubtful if any people has 
become civilized without extraneous help. Britain was savage when 
Roman civilization intervened. So with Gaul. Cadmus brought 
letters to Greece. And what is the story of Prometheus, who stole 
fire from heaven, but an illustration of this law.^ 

The African, brought from pagan gloom to Christian civilization 
and under the benign institutions of our land, even though cursed by 
slavery, has developed such patriotism, such devotion to liberty, to 
the arts, to science, to letters, as proves that the African, in an equal 
race, is the peer of the Caucasian. This represents the faith of the 
American people when the war ended, and when money v^as poured 
forth, as waters go forth from fountains, to build schools, support 
teachers, endow colleges and place the negro on his feet. 

That faith still exists, and yet the negro is to some extent a dis- 
appointment. He has not equaled expedlations religiously. Too 
many have been content to live in line with slave customs and have 
refused to keep step in the march to freedom, to equality, to useful- 
ness. In Nashville I was saddened by the condu6l of the pastor of 
the largest church and the best meeting-house in the town, who yet 
dared not come and take a seat with the white southern Baptist 
convention. His fear was foolishness- He would have been 
welcomed by the brethren of a whiter hue. 

In Knoxville, Tenn., I sat with Bishop Haven of the Methodist 
church in a pleasant home of a Methodist pastor. He had a fine 
library. Both himself and wife were graduates of Oberlin. We 
asked him to take a seat with us on the platform, wdiere I was to 
le6lure. He did not dare do it. In New Orleans the superintendent 
of public instruction in 1875 was a colored man. He helped build 
the Ames colored Methodist meeting-house, and yet, because of a 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 379 

law sending the negro to the gallery, he dared not accompany me 
to the platform. The fear is pitiable. Up to the present time I 
have yet to hear a single negro get up in a white convention and 
take part in a discussion and command respect by his positive 
and plain putting of some important principle. In all the land there 
is not a colored minister in a white jDulpit. There might be, had 
they the courage to command that the position be given them. A 
man might have climbed to such a place had he been true. It was 
open to him. But his head grew dizzy, and he betook himself to 
dissipation and died from drink. Another was false, and lost all. 
The door is open ; the path is clear. Who dares enter it? 

The industrious portion of the colored people earn their living at 
various callings ; but there are few skilled mechanics or artisans 
among them. In Brooklyn I helped a blacksmith to a shop. He 
did well for a time, but quarreled with his wife, went back to the 
negro life and lost all. Another started a store. All helped him. 
He did well for a time, but went back rather than on, and became 
a cleaner of clothes and kept a second-hand shop. There are 
barbers, cobblers, whitewashers and kalsominers, boarding-house 
keepers, now and then a proprietor of a hotel, servants on palace 
and sleeping cars, waiters, office messengers, porters in stores, 
carters, longshoremen and gardeners ; a few of them are letter 
carriers, and some have a place on the police force ; but none are of 
exalted rank in the learned professions or holding a high place as 
bankers, merchants and financiers. It is true there are some excel- 
lent teachers, but none distinguished as professors or surgeons. The 
colored people lack the courage to attempt great enterprises in the 
north. In the south some have become rich as planters. These 
employ negro help, and are little different from the overseers of the 
olden time. All this ought to be remedied. Will it be.^ This is 
the situation. 

J. Will Rofiie capture the negro? 

Unless the Christians of the north and the south stand for and with 
him, and unless he stands with them. It is the negro's fealty to 
Jesus Christ and his heart-love toward him that will save him from 
Rome. 

There is no need of disguising the fa6l that the negro business 
has been worked by the religious denominations for all it is worth. 



380 ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 

The whites of the north and the south mean to Hve in harmony. 
At the close of the war, this was not the plan. Then the whites of 
the north thought of the negro and wrought for the negro. He 
passed the white man. The battle of social equality came on. 
The white teachers and preachers who worked for the negro 
were ostracized if not persecuted. At length, culture mastered 
ignorance. Quality won the victory over quantity. The black 
man was compelled to go down to menial sei*vice and employments 
and to let go of the reins of power. He was banished from the 
halls of legislation. Schools were broken up. The negro's ballot 
was not counted, and the last state of the negro was worse than the 
first. 

At this stage the Roman Catholic church appears, seeking to fill 
the southern cities with a Roman Catholic population and capture 
the negro. This is providential. Christians in the south and in 
the north will recognize the danger. 

Right is always right. Wrong is never right. God designs that 
vaen should work as they pray and pray as they work. Brains are 
to plan and invent and scheme while hearts utter praise. Men are 
to live in line with God's redemptive purpose, while they surpass 
worldlings as citizens. That religion is w^orthless which sings and 
shouts for God Sundays and ignores him week-daj's. In the ten 
commandments there are only four which refer to the duties we 
owe directly to God ; there are six which refer to duties we owe 
to our fellow-men. The Bible in every part reminds us that God's 
eye is on us at all times, and that to please him men must do justly, 
as well as love mercy and walk humbly with their God. It will 
not do to plead that business is business, and that in secular affairs 
religious men cannot be expe6led to be better then other men. 
God's laws are equally binding on all, but Christians should surpass 
others in truth-telling and in honest dealing. Because of this they 
are trusted. Those are shunned who disregard them. Just in 
proportion as religion becomes the handmaid of business, of the home, 
of the enjoyments of life, there will be happiness and thrift. 

There is the Bible standard. Has the negro measured up to it? 

The evangelical churches demand this high and ennobling char- 
acter. Over against theiTi is the Roman Catholic church, whose 
piety is for show and not for the life. She tolerates the violation 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 38 1 

of every law of the decalogue, and the negro can cling to his sins 
and find a congenial home in the church, and yet believe he is on 
the way to a negro's paradise. There is peril in this fa6t. Negro 
priests, with the run of the nunneries, and their congregations, will 
come to be a terrible curse that may have to be abated. If the story 
in "Washington in the Lap of Rome" be true, there is a fearful 
outlook. 

Politically, the danger of the negro is greater. In the north he is 
protedled. In the south he is without prote6lion unless he does 
what the whites desire him to do. The Roman Catholic church 
has power, politicalh', to protect her membership. It is the Roman 
Catholic church that stands across the trackof Great Britain's stately 
march. That power whose "drum beat is heard round the world'' 
pauses before the Irish cabin, within which is the shadow of a priest 
and on which is the sign-manual of the pope. Rome believes that 
this will be the case in the great republic. She offers the negro 
prote6tion, providing he gives up his school and his dream of inde- 
pendence, falls into line and votes as the priest di6tates. Some of 
the wdiite people are in danger of uniting with the white cardinal in 
taking the negro out of politics and in remanding him to slavery. 
It is an hour of peril. Will the negro fall into the trap laid for him ? 
It is a terrible temptation. He can have protedion and vote the 
ticket given him, have a nominal equality in the church and at the 
hustings ; but to obtain this he must surrender his manhood and his 
religion. He can turn his back upon the Moses that brought him 
out of Egypt and turn his face to the molten calf, and can "sit down 
to eat and drink and rise up to play" and have a picnic all the year, 
dwarfing his moral powers, stunting his intellectual abilities, and 
becoming a slave to the pope, and so, in due time, a slave to the 
whites. 

It is Christ or anti-Christ. It is worshiping God and opening the 
whole nature to his service, or turning to Rome and surrendering all 
that ennobles and blesses. The cost of such a surrender cannot 
be computed in language. The imagination struggles in vain to see 
it, in its length and breadth, in its height and depth. Rome is in- 
habited by a spirit that cramps, dwarfs and kills. It has in it brain, 
skill, wit and wisdom. Engaged in its service at this hour are 
some of the mightiest intelleds of the race. The leaders of the south 



382 ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 

see this. Rome offers to take the negro out of politics and remand 
him to sei*vitude, if they will fall down and worship the shadowy 
apparition, the intangible power, the indefinite quantity called 
Rome. Whites need not join. Let Rome have its way — build mon- 
asteries, convents and schools for the poor, in which negroes and 
whites can mingle, as with one consent they rejecfl God and bow 
before the altars of Rome. 

The negro finds in Rome a religion suited to the gratification of 
passion and inclination, and the southern barons see in it a slave- 
driver with a new^ name. What will the negro do about it ? Thous- 
ands will fall into the net spread for their feet, and be lost to God, 
to righteousness, to liberty and to hope, and become a fadlor in the 
hands of Rome, rum and despotism. 

This means the breaking up of the system of public schools in the 
south and the defeat of any measure that looks to the education and 
elevation of the children of the state. Rome is the life-long enemy 
of education. The whites of the south know it, but they prefer the 
private to the public school, and take no stock in the hue and cry 
for universal education. Gentlemen for the parlor, and serfs for the 
field, is their dream of prosperity. 

This means the giving up of the Bible. The colored churches 
have got on, thousands of them, without a Bible. The great bulk 
of the negroes in the Gulf states have little education, less religion^ 
and no conscience. They have what passes for religion, but no 
pretense of education or conscience. The Gulf states are filled with 
Christians, so-called, in whom drunkenness, theft, whoredom, are 
no bars to accepted membership and communion. We have in our 
own land — not on heathen shores, but in the United States — mill- 
ions of citizens whose chara6ter is as little affected by religious 
teaching as is that of the Sicilian bandits, who will murder a traveler 
with a prayer to the Virgin on the lips. 

Now, if we think that Rome does not see that her opportunity is 
in the south, we are mistaken in regard to Rome. In the north 
Rome must die. The parochial school must die. The intelligence 
of the people, the awakened conscience of the million, under God, 
have decreed it. In the south, for the sake of powxr, for the sake of 
the gratification of the passions that sleep in the carnal heart, the 
rulers are ready to fraternize with that power which beggars and en- 



ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 383 

slaves the people wherever she rules supreme. The south has had 
a friend long before the w^ar, through the w^ar and since the war. 
Rome recognized the Confederacy, and plotted to build up a southern 
empire in which New Orleans should be the capital, and Mexico 
and some of the other South American states should form a part. 
Today Rome offers the south all she wants, if she will be silent con- 
cerning this curse of the nations. The bait is tempting. Will it 
be taken ? 

This is the time to tell the truth in the south, as in the north. 
The American people are summoned to stand up for the truth re- 
gardless of consequences. If they will do this, then God says: "I 
will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will give them an heart 
to know me, that I am the Lord ; and they shall be my people, and 
I will be their God ; for they shall return unto me with their whole 
heart." 

Rome is full of seducing vs^iles. Today she seeks to make the im- 
pression that peace and prosperity run neck and neck together. 
They seldom do. Thrift is the result of fighting, more than of fawn- 
ing. Rome is nothing if not selfish. No one ever surrendered to 
Rome and made by it. Henry IV tried it, and was assassinated. 
Abraham Lincoln suppressed his real sentiments, and was slain. 
The surrender to Rome spiritually will cost the south dear, and will 
enslave the negro. Religious and political liberty is the hope of 
the western world. The destru6lion of both is the purpose of Rome. 

The oaths of bishops and priests declare they will be disloyal to 
the flag and will persecute and combat to the last extremity heretics, 
schismatics and all who will not pay to the sovereign pontift^ the 
obedience which the sovereign shall require. That oath rules 
Rome. Wherever it rules, there is disloyalty to the constitution and 
the flag. Any papist under the control of his bishop will not hesi- 
tate to sacrifice the good of the country, the interest, the life and the 
prosperity of his fellow-beings, for the good of the church. Pope 
John XII, in 956, declared "that whosoever shall venture to main- 
tain that our lord, the pope, cannot decree what he pleases, let him 
be accursed." Boniface VIII, in 1294, declared "that God has set 
popes over kings and kingdoms, and whoever thinks otherwise, let 
him be accursed." This is the theory that rules the Romish church 
at this hour. 



384 ROMANISM AND THE NEGRO. 

4. The negro's Jiofe is in God. 

It was God's right hand that brought him out of slavery. It was 
those mysterious providences which toned up the north until they 
were ready to say, "We are willing to die that freedom for all may 
become a fa6t." His future lies in the lap of a high resolve, which 
shall make him build up himself in virtue, in truth, in honesty, in 
integi'ity and in the word of God. To succeed, he must reject the 
tempting proffers of Rome, and stand for God and the right. Suc- 
cess comes from succeeding. Prosperity comes from prospering. 
The key to prosperity is within more than without. It has been 
ordained that honesty, industry, integrity, fair dealing and brotherly 
kindness shall enable any man to unlock the gates which to others 
are closed and barred, providing the conditions of honesty are met. 
The people of color w^ho believe in God and follow the lead of Jesus 
Christ can grasp and hold this key to prosperity as well as others. 
To do it, they must be true. Negro churches must be trained to 
drop out of them all that distinctively disparages the race, and bring 
into them all that enlarges and ennobles. In Christ there is for the 
black man an open door. 

Tw^o trusts have been committed to our keeping — that of liberty 
and that of humanity. Betrayal of these trusts imperils. Lightning 
rods tipped with steel and pointed skyward, with their conducting 
coil on our chamber floors, are as safe when the sheeted flame is at 
work as it is for anybody to ignore the claims of God upon them. 

The color-bearer is in the advance. Hear him. The cry goes 
out, "Bring back your colors ! " His shout is heard ; it runs along 
the line ; listen to it : '•^Bri7ig tif your inen /" Do this, and you 
thall shed light upon the pathway of millions ; you shall build up 
she nation in righteousness, and save yourselves. May God guide 
and keep and bless the men of color in this and in all lands, and 
permit them, with their white brothers, to save and exalt the nation. 



ROMANISTS NOT THE FIT EDUCATORS 
OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 



''''Fight the good Jight of faiths These words sound down to- 
us from the ages past. They were addressed to the bcHevers in the 
word of God. They teach that there is a good fight of faith as well 
as a bad fight. Our enemies have faith, and they are willing to 
fight for it. They are unscrupulous, far-seeing and very brave, and 
marshal their forces with exceeding skill. Paul says : Match them, 
"Fight the good fight of faith" with as much bravery, skill and plan. 
God's children must fight if they would win. Truth must face error 
and, if possible, stop its mouth. Freemen must face the opponents 
of liberty and oppose them by every means in their power, and re- 
sist the aggressions of a sleepless foe that seeks to capture the cit- 
adel of our hopes and, if possible, turn the guns we have planted to- 
protect our homes upon the shelterless and defenseless. These are 
not empty words. The battle has begun, and Protestants and repub- 
licans have surrendered. To surrender is sin ; to fight, a mani- 
fest duty. 

Popery in the United States is little known. It is hidden. It 
works in darkness. Such is the courage and faith of the American 
people that they consent to the existence of Roman Catholics, 
and to their carrying out their purposes and plans, as they do to 
the existence of Methodists or Baptists or any other religious denomi- 
nation. They a6t as if it were ungenerous or unfair to uncover their 
wiles and disclose the perils which threaten this nation because of 
the aggressions of Romanism. In Canada, this is worse than it is 
in the United States. There Rome is dominant ; the harvest has 
ripened and the power of Rome is consolidated. 

Separate or parochial schools exist in Canada under the san6lion 
of the law. They are sustained by taxation, as are Protestant. 
There are many ways in which Roman Catholics are permitted to 
place Protestants at a disadvantage. 

385 



386 



ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 



Said Hon. James S. Hughes, superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, Toronto, Ont. : 

1 . *Five Roman Catholics can petition for a separate school. 
The petition being granted, all Roman Catholics within a radius of 
three miles every way can be compelled to support it. No matter 
if they prefer the public school, the law compels them to support 
the separatist school. All known to be Roman Catholics, and all 
believed to be Roman Catholics, are taxed, and deliverance from the 
same can only be obtained by a process of law which is irritating, 
if not dangerous. 

2. All Protestant teachers are compelled to go through a public 
■examination, and must measure up to a certain grade or fail in ob- 
taining a school. In Roman Catholic schools the Christian Broth- 
ers and nuns can be appointed without examination. 

3. For the public schools books are sele6led by the board of 
public education. In Roman Catholic schools they select their own. 

4. In the public schools the Bible is read — not in the Roman 
Catholic. 

5. The public schools are inspected — not the Roman Catholic. 

6. In the election of trustees for public schools a secret ballot is 
used. In Roman Catholic school districts the trustees are eledled 
by their signing their names and voting aye or nay. This is the 
fight now going on. 

As a result Roman Catholic children are growing up in igno- 
rance. It is proven in Canada, as in Ireland or Spain or Mexico, 
that Rome hates education. 

Dr. Maguire, a Roman Catholic professor of the university of 
Dublin, and one of the officers of the Royal university of Ireland, has 
Avritten a pamphlet on The Effedls of Home Rule on Education, in 
which he declares that "A large and logical section of the Roman 
Catholic church is conscientiously opposed to the spread of educa- 
tion." He quotes the Dublin Review (Vol. XX, p. 192, second 
series), in which it is contended "that the absence of higher educa- 
tion is a powerful preservative against apostasy ;" and tells a story 
of a leading archbishop, who closed a school, and, when one of the 
villagers asked how he w^as to send his children to school, replied : 
*'What do they want with a school.? Let them learn their cate- 
vchism." 

♦Washington in the Lap of Home, p. 223-226. 



ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 387 

Cardinal Cullen, in 1S70, before the educational commission, said : 
"Too much education would make the poor discontented with their 
lot, and unsuit them for following the plow, using the spade, ham- 
mering iron or building walls." 

As Macaulay said : "During the last three centuries, to stunt the 
growth of the human mind has been her chief objedl. Throughout 
Christendom, whatever advance has been made in know^ledge, in 
freedom, in wealth and in the arts of life has been in inverse propor- 
tion to her power. The loveliest and most fertile provinces of 
Europe have, under her rule, been sunk in poverty, in political ser- 
vitude and in intellectual torpor ; while Protestant countries once 
proverbial for sterility and barbarism have been turned by skill and 
industry into gardens, and can boast of a long list of heroes, states- 
men, philosophers and poets." 

Says M. Emile de Lavelieye, in his work entitled "Protestantism 
and Catholicism in their Bearing on the Liberty and Prosperit}' of 
Nations :" "It is admitted the Scotch and the Irish are of the same 
origin, and shows that since the Scotch embraced the reform religion 
they have outrun even the English, while wherever the Irish em- 
braced Romanism they have retrograded. What a contrast between 
exclusively Roman Catholic Connaught and Protestant Ulster !" 

Education is the basis of national liberty and prosperity. In ele- 
mentary instruction Protestant states are incomparably more ad- 
vanced than Roman Catholic, and representative government Is the 
natural outgrowth of Protestant populations, while despotic gov- 
ernments are the congenial governments of Romanist populations. 

De Lavelieye declares : "The control of education by the Roman 
priesthood leads inevitably to illiteracy, with its tendency to degrada- 
tion, pauperism, and crime." 

The Roman Catholic Review for April, 1871 , said : "We do not, 
indeed, prize as highly as some of our countrymen appear to do the 
ability to read, write, and cipher ; some men are born to be leaders 
and the rest are born to be led ; the best ordered and administered 
state is that in which the few are well educated and lead and the 
many trained to obedience." This is Romanism. It ought to be 
fought, not for the sake of Protestants alone, but because of the im- 
periled interests of the children of Roman Catholics. Illiteracy im- 
perils, here and everywhere. 



3SS ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 

In Canada, one-sixth of the population furnishes more than five- 
sixths of the crime. All criminal disclosures reveal this point. 

When the bill was introduced into the legislature of New York, 
pretending to secure freedom of worship, it was proven to have been 
proposed by a Jesuit ; and it w^as introduced by Senator Gibbs, be- 
cause, as he said in a letter to the New York Evening Post, 
of certain pledges made by the leading Republicans to the Irish 
Catholic voters for their support of James G. Blaine. If in Amer- 
ica, with our centuries of training in the principles of republican 
government, w^ith our hereditary devotion to the elementary princi- 
ples of civil and religious freedom, such bargains can be made, and 
Irish votes can be sold in blocks for the betrayal of the principles of 
the constitution, is it not time to ask if popery be not in the way? 

It is time to call a halt. For more than fifty years, because of the 
false security which has held the church in the arms of a delusive 
slumber, and through the cowardice or ambition of party leaders, the 
state of New York, with all of its unparalleled opportunities and re- 
sponsibilities, has been drifting toward a surrender of the children 
of the state to the control of the priests of Rome. 

There are in New York and its neighborhood twenty-nine so- 
cieties for the care of destitute children of the city, from birth to 
eighteen years of age, which receive public money. During the 
year 1S85 they had under charge, for longer or shorter periods, 
19,256 individual children, at an expense to the city of $1 ,435,759.34. 
Rome gets $221,862.64 more for her 8,496 children than Prot- 
estant and Hebrew institutions with 10,504 children ; and yet Rome, 
with her votaries driving out Protestants from every department of 
the public service, is ever crying for inore. 

In 1875, the children's law was passed (Chapter 173, Laws 1875), 
by which it was forbidden to send able-bodied, intelligent children, 
between the ages of 3 and 16 years, to a poorhouse or almshouse, 
and the various magistrates, superintendents of the poor or other 
authorities, were empowered to provide for such children in fami- 
lies, orphan asylums or other appropriate institutions, and the 
boards of supervisors were required to take such adlion as was nec- 
essary to carry out this law. The followmg clause was also added : 
*'In placing any such child in any such institution, it shall be the duty 
of the officer, justice or person placing it there to commit such 



ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 389 

child to an orphan asylum, charitable or other reformatory institu- 
tion that is governed or controlled by officers or persons of the same 
religious faith as the parents of such child, so far as pradlicable." 
The latter clause was omitted in the law as amended by Chapter 266, 
laws of 1876, re-ena6ted by Chapter 404 of the Laws of 1878, and 
though this law was again amended in 1884, the "religious clause 
remains substantially the same." Once more the attempt is made 
to have the religious clause omitted — the fight for Rome is still on. 
Review this history. 

At the outset it was believed that it was possible to frame a system 
of public instruction that would please all who desired to participate 
in its benefits. Something like the Prussian method it was hoped 
might be adopted, where religious instruction of soine sort, like all 
other instruction of the schools, is not optional, but compulsory. In 
1822 the Baptist Bethel church of the city of New York made ap- 
plication for a portion of the public funds to sustain certain schools 
( See "Rome in America," p. 119. ) 

The request was granted. After the lapse of three years it was 
reconsidered, on the ground that tliey were not striCtly common 
schools. The decision of 1825 was regarded as settling the princi- 
ples on which the school fund was thereafter to be distributed. On 
this ground the application of the Roman Catholics in 183 1 and '32 
was strenuously resisted by the trustees of the public schools. But, 
despite the opposition, and in the face of their own admission of the 
justice of the principle out of which it arose, the corporation of New 
York granted the Romish petition, "out of pure sympathy," as they 
said, "for so interesting a charity." 

Here the war began. It was justice against injustice. In 1840, 
Romanists, led by Archbishop Hughes, made an attempt to disrupt 
and destroy our public school system. They denounced the schools 
because the word of God was read in them. Because of their ob- 
jection to the word of God they withdrew their children and de- 
manded their portion of the school fund. 

The politicians thought to make peace by consenting to banish the 
word of God. It was a terrible mistake. It did no good. The 
Bible was only an excuse for Romish hate. Education was, in faCt, 
the objeCt at which they aimed their blows. As a result, the schools 
without the Bible were denounced as godless, and the command 



390 ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 

went forth that parochial schools should be established in every dis- 
tri6t, and that the children of Roman Catholics should be taken from 
our public schools as they would "take them from a devouring fire." 
The Bible is the divine weapon from which Rome shrinks as frons. 
Ithuriel's spear, knowing that "no falsehood can endure touch of 
celestial temper." "Rome knows well that a people who read the 
Bible are not likely to accept her syllabus and her dogmas ; or to use 
this prayer to the Virgin in the new Brevarium, 'Thou art the only 
hope of sinners ;' or to believe in the infallibility of the pope, and 
adore him as 'our Lord God.'" 

Romanism is the foe of liberty. Washington knew it and so de- 
clared in his fare^vell address. He used these v^ords : "Against the 
insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to believe me, 
fellow citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly 
awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is 
one of the baneful foes of a republican government." Washington, 
on the night before the battle of Trenton, sent forth the order : 
"Put none but Americans on guard." Lafayette recognized the 
truth when he declared: "If ever the liberty of the American re- 
public is destroyed, it will be the work of Roman Catholic priests.'' 

These warnings, for political reasons, have been ignored. Lord 
Robert Montague, reared among Jesuits, but now the champion of 
Protestantism because of his conversion to Christianity, in his book 
entitled "Recent Events and a Clue to their Solution," truly asserts 
that "The great engine of the Romish hierarchy is education. They 
exert themselves to mould the future generation, and to implant in 
their youth all the ideas which they desire to govern them in their 
manhood. Rome subdues their intelleds ; she stops all independ- 
ence of thought ; she stunts every tendency to free inquiry, while 
she stufls their minds with legends of the saints, mai-vels, pidlures, 
formularies, symbolisms and rituals, until, crushed under the bur- 
den and subdued by frequent examination of conscience and confes- 
sion, they resign themselves to their spiritual direction." Here 
then, we reach the proposition I desire to maintain, viz. : "The 
state ought not to suffer children over whom it has control to 
come under papal influence." 

I. Because Romish educatiofi incapacitates them for the 
responsibilities of American manhood. 



ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 39I 

Edward McGlynn, D. D., perceives tliis, and would not build a 
parochial school in the parish of St. Stephen's, saying, openly and 
above board, that the public schools, in which he was educated, were 
suited to the wants of the rising generation. 

McGlynn the patriot is the prodii6i of our free school system. 
Roman Catholics are beginning to see this. Said one : "I was ed- 
ucated in a parochial school. I knew nothing of history, of geog- 
raphy, of higher mathematics, until I broke out and went with my 
companions to a free school." A father said : "Aiy wife wants my 
boy to be taken out of the public school. I tell her no. The priest- 
demands it. I tell him to keep out of my house, my boy shall 
have a chance with other boys." An Irish mother insisted on tak- 
ing her boy out of the parochial school. The priest objected. She 
persisted, saying other children were being fitted for better posi- 
tions in society by attending the public schools, and her son should 
go to the school best adapted for him, and go he did. 

Vicar-General Brady of St. Louis declares: "We are doing all 
that we can to prevent our children from going to the public schools. 
We must educate our own children. They are educated in the 
public schools merely as animals would be educated. Their souls 
are not attended to." First denounce the schools because the Bible 
is read, then banish the Bible and denounce them as godless, is the 
programme of Rome. 

In Monseigneur Legur's "Plain Talk About Protestantism," there 
is this language, p. 98 : "The freedom of thinking is simply non- 
sense. We are no more free to think without rule than we are to 
act without one." Page 105 : "We have to believe only what 
the pope and the bishops teach. We have to reject onh' that which 
the pope and the bishops condemn and reject. Should a point of 
doctrine appear doubtful, we have only to address ourselves to the 
pope and the bishops to know what to believe. Only from, that 
tribunal, forever living and forever assisted by God, emanates the 
judgment on religious belief, and particularly on the true sense of the 
Scriptures." "The Roman church, claiming to understand the se- 
crets of God and to have the keys of heaven and hell, and blasphe- 
mously assuming that it can control the destinies of men — to save 
eternally or damn forever in a life to come — undertakes to bestow 
for money the joys of the former, and to inflict the pains of the latter 



392 ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 

on those who refuse credulity and cash." To make this trade pros- 
perous, ignorance is a necessity. "It uses money, mendacity and 
pretended miracles to capture and enslave the ignorant. It assails 
everything tending to enlighten the masses, on whose ignorance it 
feeds. Italy, Spain, Ireland, Mexico and Lower Canada sufficiently 
illustrate its perfect work. Human vitality and intelligence have 
probably been brought to a lower point in Spain than in any other 
civilized nation on the globe, and the Roman church is largely, if 
not solely, responsible for this national degradation and ruin. It 
■seeks to do — is most successfully preparing to do — is doing slowly 
— for the United States what it has done for Spain." Our free 
school system destroyed, political integrity destroyed and parties 
•corrupted, the goal is not far away. 

2. The chara6lei' of the education given deserves notice. 

The trouble in Ireland today is that England is dealing with a 
people who believe that all is right which is done to advance the 
power of the church. Hence, there, as here, jurymen utterly gnore 
the value of their oath when the interests of the church require it. 
For this reason alone the right of "trial by jury" is threatened. Ro- 
manism gives a license to violate, in some way or other, every pre- 
cept of the decalogue. If men who are Romanists are truthful, 
honest and upright, it is because they are better than the religion 
they profess compels them to be. 

Rome teaches that the Sabbath may be set aside after hearing 
mass. Merchandising and the selling of goods by auction is per- 
mitted on the Sabbath. "He who performs any servile work on the 
Lord's day or on a festival day, let him do penance three days on 
bread and water. If any one break fasts prescribed by the church, 
let him do penance on bread and water twenty days." Three days 
•on bread and water for disobeying their God ; twenty days for diso- 
b)eying their church ! Absolution is granted for stealing small 
amounts to pay for masses, though the law is that masses shall 
be given without pay. The command, "Thou shalt have no 
•other gods before me," is blotted out of the Bible by papal hands. 
Children trained in these schools can lie, steal, break the Sabbath 
and commit sins of any kind, and obtain absolution from a man no 
l>etter than the guilty party. 

Romanism injures citizenship. The oath of allegiance by which 



ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 393 

the thousands of Romanists have obtained the rights of tlie ballot, 
citizenship and office, which, if regarded as obligatory, would bind 
every one of them to support the principles of republican govern- 
ment, is valueless, because whenever Rom^ui officials shall see fit to 
require this oath to be disregarded, every f,ood Romanist is bound 
by his allegiance to the pope, which he believes more binding 
than his allegiance to the government, to disregard it. As 
proof we quote from "Abridged Course of Religious Instruction" 
for the use of colleges and schools, by Rev. Father F. X. 
Schouppe, of the society of Jesus, with the imprimatur of H. E. 
Cardinal Manning, London — Burns and Gates, 1880, p. 293 : "The 
church can dispense from a promissory oath. This power belongs 
to the pope and the bishops, who exercise it either themselves or by 
their delegates." 

Page 278 : "The civil laws [of Christendom] are binding in con- 
science so long as they are conformable in spirit to the rights of the 
Catholic church." 

This gives a warrant to the false swearing, which floods our cities 
with voters who have passed from their landing in this free country 
to the courts where they take a false oath ; to the polls, where, with 
another false oath, they swear in their vote ; and to the confessional, 
where their oath is held to be a justifiable, "dispensable" lie for the 
benefit of the holy Catholic church, whenever it shall choose so to re- 
gard it, and order them so to regard it. We are taught, also, that the 
sacrifice of the mass remits sins and the punishment due them (p. 
210). "The povv^er to remit sin is judicial. The priests are made 
judges of the sin and the disposition of the sinner. Their absolu- 
tion is just as efficacious as would be that of Jesus Christ" (p. 213). 

Educate the youth in this way, and "repeating" at the polls 
becomes an a6l of grace, and honest elections are made impossible. 
As has been said: "A ship load of foreign Romanists lands in 
New York. Indulgence in the lump is issued to them by the cardinal 
or archbishop, to swear that they have resided here long enough 
to become citizens ; they go before the court, become naturalized, 
get their final papers, and at once go to the polls and help ele6l the 
cardinal's candidate for mayor. Thus perjured citizens capture 
polling places and carry elections in the interest of Romanism." 
(Romanism, A. J. Grover, p. 18.) It does not stop here. 



394 ROMANlfeTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 

Dissimulation is lawful, according to Liguori, as is gambling. 
"Laymen, or even the clergy, do not sin if they play cards, princi- 
pally for the sake of recreation or for a moderate sum of money." 
Hence gambling among priests is extensively pradiced. 

"It is lawful to administer the sacraments to drunkards, if they 
are in danger of death and had previously expressed a desire of 
receiving them." Hence the murderer, executed in the Tombs 
October t8, 1SS3, cried for whiskey at the last, though he had 
partaken of the eucharist. Priests are known to drink to excess. 
One, in a country town, rode home drunk almost every Sabbath 
evening after performing vespers in the chapel. All knew it, and 
it was tolerated because the guilty debauchee was a priest. It was 
Liguori who said : ''Among the priests w^ho live in the world it is 
rare, very rare, to find one that is good." 

Alexander Campbell, in his discussion with Archbishop Purcell, 
read from Liguori the permission for priests to keep nieces or con- 
cubines. Archbishop Purcell denied that Liguori ever taught any- 
thing so abominable, and remarked that all who say so are guilty 
of a flagrant violation of the commandment : "Thou shalt not bear 
false witness against thy neighbor." The book was brought in 
and another read therefrom these words : "A bishop, however poor 
he may be, cannot appropriate to himself pecuniary fines without 
the license of the apostolical see. But he ought to apply to pious 
uses fines which the Council of Trent has laid upon non-resident 
clergymen or upon those clerg}'men who keep concubines." Mar- 
riage is a mortal sin. Adultery is pardoned. Whatever hurts 
Rome is decried, whatever helps Rome is approved. 

"What answer ought a confessor to give when questioned con- 
cerning a truth which he knows from sacramental confession only.?" 
"He ought to answer that he does not know it, and, if it be neces- 
sary, to confirm the same with an oath." "Is it lawful, then, to 
tell a lie?" "He is questioned as a man and answers as a man. 
As a man he does not know the truth, though he knows it as God." 
■*'What if a confessor were direftly asked whether he knows it 
through sacramental confession?" "He may reply, 'I know noth- 
ing.'" Is such a religion good enough for the youth of America.? 
It is my position that the state of New York has no right to give 
children into the hands of Roman Catholics ; and that prisoners in 



ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 395 

our penal institutions ought to be taught and helped by men who 
believe and teach the word of God. 

Roman Catholics should not have charge of prisons. Jerry Mc- 
Auley, the river thief and a most desperate chara6ler, went to 
Sing Sing as a member of the Roman Catholic communion in full 
and in good standing, as are the majority of the prisoners in all our 
penal institutions. It was because Jerry McAuley heard the gos- 
pel and found a Bible in his room that he was converted, came out 
of the church of Rome and became a benefa6lor to hundreds and 
thousands. 

J. The state has no right to recognize any church. 

If the court of special sessions can commit to a Roman Catholic 
institution children between seven and fourteen years of age, as idle, 
truant, vicious or homeless, then the state can put its neck into the 
yoke Rome has been framing for many years with the consent of a 
silent Christianity and a crafty political sentiment. The law says : 
"The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and wor- 
ship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed 
in this state for all mankind." 

The constitution of these United States, in providing for relig- 
ious liberty, expressly declares that no restraint shall be exercis- 
ed ; that "Congress shall make no law respedling an establishment 
of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" but recognizing" 
the principle introduced to the notice of mankind by Roger Wil- 
liams, who repudiated toleration because the right to tolerate im- 
plied the right to persecute ; who would not accept as a favor from 
man what had been given to him as a right by God ; who held that 
when God made the eye he conferred the right to look, and when 
he made the Bible he conferred the right to read it or have it read. 

Gambetta in France saw this peril, and warned the state against 
giving over children to the control of priests to be educated and 
guided by them. "I am," said the great French statesman, "for 
the separation of the schools from the churches. I consider this 
not only a question of political but of social order. Let not Cath- 
olics, with their claims to exclusiveness, have anything to do with 
the propagation of necessary knowledge, which it is the state's duty 
to see imparted to every citizen." 



396 ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 

Gambetta knew Romanism as we, inth is free land, do not know 
it. Let us hear and heed his manly advice. 

The parochial school, notwithstanding the disposition of the 
American people to try to conciliate their. Rom an Catholic fellow 
citizens, is a fa(5l. The decree has gone forth from the provincial 
council, sanctioned by the pope, that such schools shall be built in 
every parish. Compromise is a failure. Not only does Rome seek 
to take her children out of our public schools, but, under one pre- 
tense or another, she seeks to fill these public schools with Roman 
Catholic teachers. Let us have done with this. Put the Bible back 
where it belongs. Let it become a text-book for the children of 
America. Teach them to be good readers of the Scriptures. Said 
Sir William Jones, w^ho was familiar with Greek, Roman and ori- 
ental literature: "The Bible, independently of its divine origin, 
contains more sublimity, purer morality, more impartial history 
and finer strains of eloquence than can be colledled from any other 
book, in whatever language it may have been written." John Jay, 
in an admirable address on "Rome, the Bible and this Republic," 
quotes the distinguished Robert Hall as saying, "Wherever the 
Scriptures are generally read the standard of morals is raised," and 
adds : "The indebtedness of this country to the Bible, and its rec- 
ognition by our government in other days, are things not to be for- 
gotten ; and it is well to keep permanently before our people this 
distinguishing feature of our history. The great body of the orig- 
inal settlers on our newly-discovered continent were men whose an- 
cestors had fought for civil and religious freedom on the various 
battle fields of the old world." They loved liberty and loved God's 
word. Is it not true that their love of liberty sprung from the in- 
fluence of the truth upon their hearts ? Follow the Bible around 
the world, and in its trail you find liberty, progress and enlighten- 
ment. The Bible ought to be made a text-book in every institu- 
tion helped by the state, because of what the Bible does for the 
state. "There never w^as found," said Lord Bacon, "in any age of 
this world, either religion or law that did so highly exalt the public 
good as the Bible." If Romanists do not like it, let them dislike it. 
What they love hurts liberty. What they hate helps it. It is our duty 
to make our schools so good that no ambitious child of the state can 
afford to be educated elsewhere. I make my appeal to you, not as 



ROMANISTS NOT FIT EDUCATORS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. 397 

religionists but as citizens. Do more than refuse to divide the 
school fund. Do this : From this time on, provide for children 
between seven and fourteen years of age, who may be idle, 
truant, vicious or homeless, better places in which to educate 
them than the protectories or convents under R.omish control. 

They are children of the state. Give them religious instru(5lion 
by giving them access to the word of God. It is our bounden duty 
to teach them Christian morality, essential to their education as 
good citizens. In the words of Ulysses S. Grant : 

"Let us labor to add all needful guarantees for the most perfect 
security of free thought, free speech, a free press, pure morals, and 
unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges 
to all men, irrespective of nationality, color or religion. Encour- 
age free schools, and resolve that not one dollar in money, no mat- 
ter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support of any sedtariani 
school. Resolve that either the state or nation, or both combined, 
shall support institutions of learning sufficient to afford every child 
growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school 
education." 

Then shall our schools become what our fathers designed them 
to be — the source of enlightenment, the support of good government 
and the bulwark and defense of liberty. 

God save the commonwealth. So let all good citizens pray. 



WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP THE AMERI- 
CAN REFORMATION ALONG ? 

Many earnest Christian people, who reaHze the dangers menac- 
ing our country, are writing us, heartily commending us for the moral 
courage shown in the utterances of "The American," and asking us 
what they can do to help along the cause of reformation ? 

We reply : — 

1. If you have not yet subscribed for "The American," do so 
at once. 

2. Ask your neighbor to take it. Speak a good word for it 
everywhere. 

3. Put us in possession of any interesting fa els that will help 
the cause. 

4. Protestant people need light. Subscribe for enough extra 
copies of "The American" that we may mail from this office a 
copy to every Protestant family in your town or ward. 

5. Romanists themselves need light. Subscribe for enough 
extra copies that we may mail sample issues to every Romanist 
family in your place. 

6. We have the addresses of 100,000 Protestant clergymen, leg- 
islators, officials and prominent Christian laymen, who ought to have 
one or more copies of "The American." We are sorry that we 
cannot afford to send these vast editions of sam^Dle copies at our own 
expense. We need your co-operation. 

Can you not help us by subscribing for 100 or more copies to be 
mailed one week or one year, to people needing the printed word ? 

We feel that this is God's work, and that he is calling upon every 
Caleb and Joshua to go up and possess the land in His name. 

Reader, if you have a courageous heart, and a desire to put the 
Lord's money where it will do the most good in arousing a national, 
patriotic and reform sentiment, send us your commands, and we will 
mail "The American" in any direction you may suggest. 

We hope some good friend will pay for 5000 copies to be mailed 
to the barber shops of our land. Let "The American" crowd out 
the Police News. Every issue of "The American" is filled with 
meaty articles in great variety, so that every nature will find in it 
something to interest and fix the thought. 

We should be glad to send 10,000 copies to students in semi- 
naries, colleges and academies, to enlist the consecrated, educated 
young men and women in the new^ reformation. 

Everywdiere that we can cover a town with "The American" it 
stimulates thought, breeds discussion and compels Americans and 
Romanists to declare and defend their opinions. 

PRATT BROTHERS, Marlboro, Mass. 
Publishers of the Weekly American, $2 per year, and of the Marl- 
boro Daily Mirror, $6 per year. 



REFORM BOOKS. 

The Fight with Rome, Fulton $2.00 

Why Priests Should Wed, Fulton $1.25 

Rome in America, Fulton $1.00 

Public Schools vs. Parochial Schools, Rev. Dr. Gregg $ .15 

Shall Nev^ England Break the Fetter.? Fulton $.05 
Encyclical of Pope Pius IX, out of which letter grows the 
present Roman Crusade against Public Schools and 

the Bible $ .25 

Romanism and the Reformation, H. Grattan Guinness, $i'5o 

Priest, W^oman and Confessional, Chiniquy $1.00 

Fifty Years in the Church of Rome, Chiniquy $2.25 
The above books are for sale by Pratt Brothers at the office of 
"The American," Marlboro, Mass. Agents make big money sell- 
ing these books. Send for terms. 

THE AMERICAN. 

The leading anti-Roman paper of America, the "Weekly Amer- 
ican," Marlboro, Mass. $2 a year. Official organ Pauline Prop- 
aganda. The only way to conquer Romanists is by Christian love 
and conversion. W^ith Pauline zeal it pleads the rights of men as 
against tyranny of Jesuit boycott. Save America that we may save 
the world. Sample sent free. Costs but one cent and one minute 
to send a postal. Do it now. 

AMERICAN REFORMATION PRIMER. 

These "Primers" can be mailed from this office to every house 
in your town or ward for a mere trifle — only half a cent a copy. 

Take your valuation or voting list, or your local directory, and 
get out a complete, plainly written list of the house owners in 
your town or ward, giving post office address, and send the list with 
your order to us, and we will immediately mail a copy of "The 
Primer" to each address. We will print "The Primers," and dire(5l 
the wrappers, and pay the postage, and mail an edition of "The 
Primer" from this office, for only 50 cents per hundred copies. 

Where can you engage in seed-sowing with better prospe(5ls of 
reaping a hundredfold ? 

You can do a mighty work for Reformation just now, for a very 
little money, by letting us mail these Primers by the thousand. 
Address Pratt Brothers, Marlboro, Mass. 



"THE CONVERTED PRIEST." 

This is the name of the new monthly paper established by Rev. 
J. B. Daly of Marlboro, Mass. Mr. Daly was for fourteen years a 
Roman priest in the diocese of West Virginia. Only 50 cents per 
year. 



